Monitoring kidney function in diabetic nephropathy

We investigated the validity of a one plasma sample method (I) compared with a multiple plasma sample method (II) for routine clinical determination of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in 35 insulin-dependent diabetic patients suffering from nephropathy. GFR was measured after an intravenous bolus injection of 100 microCi 51Cr-EDTA by determination of plasma radioactivity in venous blood samples taken from the other arm 180, 200, 220 and 240 min after the injection (II). The plasma radioactivity in the sample drawn 240 min after injection was used in method I. During the mean investigation period of 32 months (12-62 months) a total of 184 GFR determinations were performed. The average interval between the GFR measurements was 6 months (1-21 months). In 127/184 of the study intervals method I indicated a decrease in GFR. The corresponding figure for method II was almost identical, 130/184. The mean decline in GFR was 8.1 +/- 7.2 and 7.8 +/- 6.9 ml year-1 1.73 m-2 using methods I and II, respectively (NS). The methods essentially provided the same GFR values in absolute terms (r = 0.98, P less than 0.001). We conclude that the one plasma sample method can be used as a valid routine technique in non-uraemic patients with nephropathy.