Abstract
Laboratory investigations play a key role in diagnosing and monitoring various kidney diseases and systemic disorders with renal involvement. These investigations involve point-of-care testing such as bedside urinary examination and lab-based tests from the departments of hematology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, and virology. Judicious, targeted investigation and monitoring is an important aspect of nephrological practice, achieving an early diagnosis without over-investigation as well as appreciating false-positive and false-negative results.
In this chapter, we will discuss different methods of kidney function assessment, as well as the different tests used to diagnose kidney disorders and their complications, the clinical applications of each test, their advantages, and limitations.
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Further Reading and Guidelines
KDIGO guidelines for CKD evaluation and management: https://kdigo.org/guidelines/ckd-evaluation-and-management/.
NICE guidance: Chronic kidney disease in adults: assessment and management Clinical guideline [CG182]: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg182/chapter/1-Recommendations#investigations-for-chronic-kidney-disease-2.
2019 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology Classification Criteria for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/art.40930.
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Shendi, A.M. (2022). Laboratory Tests in Nephrology. In: Harber, M. (eds) Primer on Nephrology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76419-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76419-7_3
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