Kidney tests for people with diabetes

creatinine clearance: A test that combines a 24-hour urine sample and a blood test. Sometimes abbreviated CCr or CrCl. It is an approximation of how well the kidneys are removing waste products. CCr is the most common way of measuring the kidneys' filtration rate, known in technical lingo as the Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). There are calculations needed to get the CCr result; one online calculator may be found at http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/crclcalc.htm. Most physicians don't do these calculations, but rely on the laboratory to provide the calculated result and normal range. The normal values for CCr are about 100, plus or minus. The lower the value, the lousier the kidney function; kidneys that have completely failed to process wastes would have a CCr of zero.

24-hour urine protein: This test measures if the kidneys are "leaking" moderate or large amounts of protein into the urine. Ordinarily, there should be no protein in the urine, but in some severe cases of kidney disease, over a gram of protein might be spilled into the urine in 24 hours. If there's no microalbumin, then there's no need to measure the 24-hour urine protein, but contrariwise, if the microalbumin or urine dipstick protein level seems high, then checking the amount of protein excreted into the urine over 24 hours is the next step. For most patients, if a 24-hour urine protein is ordered, a creatinine clearance will be done at the same time.

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