Some investigators have trialled noninvasive approaches to monitoring kidney disease severity and efficacy of dialysis treatment.
This study is the first output of National Kidney Disease Surveillance System in Ireland, a programme that will serve as a major resource for tracking and monitoring kidney disease and outcomes in the Irish health system.
To further improve the sensitivity of such measures to screen for and monitor chronic kidney disease (CKD), Levey and colleagues have developed a formula to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from serum creatinine concentrations and readily available demographic variables [ 2].
It is suggested that the combination of the two parameters, albuminuria and U-LFABP, would be useful in monitoring chronic kidney disease more than either alone.
An earlier collaboration, with the Royal Free hospital in north London, saw the organization agree to develop a smartphone app called Streams to monitor patients with kidney disease.
Moreover, the National Kidney Foundation currently recommends using this prediction equation to calculate GFR and monitor progression of kidney disease [ 5].
"You've got to understand, I would get updates on his numbers every day and it scared me to death," Scott said, referring to the blood tests monitoring Mourning's kidney disease.
Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), as a measure of excretory kidney function is an important parameter to make diagnostic or therapeutic decisions as well as a tool to monitor the course of kidney disease.
Identification of biomarkers to improve clinical decision making to monitor and prevent diabetic kidney disease is needed, and cystatin C has emerged as perhaps the most promising biomarker (7).
Indeed, five studies, all restricted to patients with diabetic nephropathy suggested that, in patients with normal renal function or hyperfiltration (microalbuminuric), prediction equations are not accurate enough to monitor kidney function, whereas in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 2 and 3 these equations may be valid [ 8- 12].
