The Kidney

All the organs in the human body are important, and among them, the kidney is also one such organ, which is considered one of the vital organs of the body.

In today’s time, people are so busy that they are unable to take proper care of their bodies. That’s why medical science now checks the condition of your kidneys by taking blood or urine samples.
So, in the present time, there is nothing to worry about—any person can get tests done for all their organs.

The Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) test provides the complete profile of the kidney.

Elevated Blood Urea Nitrogen can occur with kidney diseases, but it can also happen from a high protein diet, increased protein breakdown, certain medications, dehydration or burns, GI haemorrhage, cortisol and renal failure. BUN levels often rise with aging as well.

Abnormally low levels of Blood Urea Nitrogen can be a sign of malnutrition, lack of protein in the diet, and liver disease.

Elevated Blood Urea can occur with kidney disease, but it can also happen from high protein diet, increased protein breakdown, certain medications, dehydration or burns, GI haemorrhage, cortisol and renal failure. Blood urea levels often rise with aging as well.

Abnormally low levels of Blood Urea can be a sign of malnutrition, lack of protein in the diet, and liver disease.

Independently, blood urea may not reflect kidney function. For this reason, it is often interpreted in the context of other measurements, such as creatinine, a breakdown product of the muscle that is filtered by the kidneys.

In blood, Urea is usually reported as BUN and expressed in mg/dl. BUN mass units can be converted to urea mass units by multiplying by 2.14.

Creatinine is a more specific and sensitive indicator of renal disease than Blood Urea Nitrogen.

Uses:

• To diagnose renal insufficiency;
• Adjusting dosage of renally excreted medications.
• Monitoring renal transplant recipients.
• Serum creatinine levels are a proxy for reduced skeletal muscle mass.
• Serum creatinine measurement is used in estimating the Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) for people with Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) and those with risk factors for CKD (Diabetes Mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and family history of kidney disease).

Increased In: Blockage in the urinary tract, Pre- and postrenal azotemia, Impaired kidney function, Loss of body fluid (dehydration), Muscle diseases such as gigantism, acromegaly.

Decreased In: Pregnancy, certain drugs (e.g., cimetidine, trimethoprim), Myasthenia Gravis, Muscular dystrophy.

Uric acid levels show diurnal variation. The level is usually higher in the morning and lower in the evening. Increased levels are seen in starvation, strenuous exercise, malnutrition, or lead poisoning, gout, renal disorders, increased breakdown of body cells in some cancers (including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma) or cancer treatments, hemolytic anemia, sickle cell anemia, or heart failure, pre-eclampsia,  liver disease (cirrhosis), obesity, psoriasis, hypothyroidism, low blood levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), certain drugs, foods that are very high in purines – such as organ meats, red meats, some seafood and beer. Decreased levels are seen in liver disease, Wilson’s disease, Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), certain drugs.