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230010     IOHEXOL Finger prick test

True Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)

Iohexol is non-radioactive and inert and has been shown to be a  reliable reagent in the measurement of GFR, with over 25 years of safe use worldwide.

HSL has developed and patented a finger prick  procedure for the determination of true GFR avoiding patient waiting time in the clinic.

This procedure is suitable for clinical practice and also for use in large-scale studies, with the increased convenience of home use. Collection kits are provided by us and the blood spots can be posted back directly by the patient  to our laboratories for analysis and GFR calculation.

Many studies have compared Iohexol clearance with Chromiun-EDTA clearance and shown excellent agreement (P.Delanaye, Clin Kidney J 2016 oct;9(5): 700-704). We have also shown excellent agreement between Iohexol clearance and our Iohexol “Finger Prick” technique.

The Iohexol “Finger Prick” offers convenient true measured GFR in all subjects including healthy volunteers and patients with established CKD.

References: 1. Niculescu-Duvaz I., et al (2006) Development of an outpatient’s finger-prick glomerular filtration procedure suitable for epidemiological studies. Kid. Int., 69(7):1272-1275.

2. Mafham M., (2007) A practical method of measuring glomerular filtration rate by Iohexol clearance using direct capillary blood spots. Nephron Clin Pract., 106 (3):c104-112..

3. Delanaye et al (2016) Iohexol plasma clearance for measuring glomerular filtration fpr measuring glomerular filtration rate in clinical practice and reserahc: a review. Part 2: why to measure glomerular filtration rate with iohexol? Clin. Kid J 2016: 700-704.

230011      Cystatin C

Cystatin C is a novel serum marker of the glomerular filtration rate. It has a low molecular weight and it is freely filtered by the glomerulus and almost completely reabsorbed and catabolized by the proximal tubular cells.

If the kidney function and glomerular filtration rate decline, the blood levels of Cystatin C rise. The levels of Cystatin C are independent of weight and height, muscle mass, age (over a year of age), and sex. Our procedure complies with NICE guidelines [CG182].

Cystatin C is a better marker of the glomerular filtration rate and hence of kidney function than creatinine.

In addition to chronic kidney disease, Cystatin C has been demonstrated to be a marker of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.