Urine Tests for Detecting Kidney Disease

Submitted by Medical Health Test Team on October 16, 2012

Urine is a waste product produced in the kidneys. The kidneys do not produce the components of urine. These components are the result of various bodily functions which result in the collection of toxins and waste material in the blood. These toxins and waste materials are filtered out of the blood in the kidneys. After filtration, these substances are passed out of the kidneys into the urinary bladder where they collect. When the bladder is sufficiently full, the urge to urinate occurs and the individual will pass urine and eliminate the waste products from the body. This is a normal bodily process that occurs throughout the day. The existence of a urinary bladder is what helps people avoid urinating continuously. The bladder has a sphincter muscle capable of holding back a large quantity of urine until it is convenient for urination to take place.

A urine test is a simple and popular medical diagnostic procedure where a sample of urine is collected from a patient and sent to a laboratory for analysis. Because urination is a normal bodily function, the collection of urine is not a complicated procedure at all. Once the sample is analyzed the values of the various components that make it up are presented in numerical form. These values are presented along with values that are considered to be typical in a healthy individual.

Common Urine Tests For Kidney Disease

The kidneys are a pair of organs that are responsible for the function of cleaning the blood of toxins and waste products. Kidney disease is a medical condition where the kidneys are damaged or not properly functioning due to a disease. There are a few different urine tests for kidney disease. These tests estimate the functioning of the kidneys and could be used to judge the health of the kidneys.

One of the common urine tests for kidney disease is a standard urine analysis. This test is conducted by checking some of the basic characteristics of the urine such as color, concentration, odor and other normal tests.

A more complicated urine test is the creatinine clearance test. This test uses a few consecutive urine samples to test for the rate at which the kidneys are clearing creatinine from the body. Any abnormality in these or any other kidney tests can be used to diagnose a problem with the kidney. The exact nature of the disease affecting the kidney could be ascertained by conducting tests to check whether the problem is infection based or is based on some sort of injury or degeneration of kidney tissue.

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