Aim: The aim of this study was to identify a practical sampling regimen and calculation method that could be used to measure the glomerular filtration rate in patients with ascites using plasma sampling.
Patients and methods: Thirteen potential liver transplant patients with cirrhosis and ascites were injected with Cr-51 ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, and plasma samples were obtained at up to 16 time points for each patient. Reference clearance values were calculated using the area under the plasma clearance curve, which was calculated using all the available data points. Clearance calculations were then performed using three and four data points from each patient and three different calculation methods to identify a sampling regimen and calculation method that yielded good agreement with the reference values.
Results: The reference clearances ranged from 6 to 80 ml/min. Sampling at 2, 4, 8 and 24 h and calculation of the area under the plasma clearance curve using a log-linear trapezoidal rule with extrapolation to zero and infinity yielded a relative root mean square difference from the reference of less than 7%.
Conclusion: This method for measuring glomerular filtration rate in patients with cirrhosis and ascites was found to be more accurate than the slope-intercept technique and is a practical alternative to urine collection.