Renal failure
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The presence of delayed graft function (DGF) following cadaver donor renal transplantation is associated with inferior graft survival as well as decreased patient survival. Delay in onset of function eliminates a valuable indicator of allograft viability, which is not easily replaced by standard diagnostic procedures. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that a new clearance technique could be used to measure renal function minute to minute and under conditions similar to those observed in humans in the immediate posttransplantation period. ⋯ Acute tubular necrosis (ATN) resolution was reflected more quickly when using the rate constant (Day 1) than when using either BUN or plasma Cr (Day 3-4). Because of renal functional reserve, BUN and plasma Cr were relatively insensitive indicators of mild to moderate reductions in GFR as compared with the rate constant. We conclude that ARM is a simple method which provide an accurate, near real-time GFR readout with potential applications not only for the clinical management of patients with DGF, but also as a research tool in acute renal failure (ARF).