What is BUN- Creatinine ratio 1:10 and what does it express?
Answer:
BUN stands for blood urea nitrogen. Creatinine is a protein that is excreted by the kidney and is used as a weigh of renal function. Both are used to assess kidney function.
The BUN:Creatinine ratio can sometimes give you a clue in the order of the cause of kidney dysfunction.
For example, a BUN of 10 and Creatinine 1.0 (both conventional values) gives you a ratio of 10:1, which is also run of the mill. This is (likely) normal, respectable kidney function.
A BUN of 50 (abnormally high) and Creatinine 1.5 (kinda high) gives you a ratio of ~33:1, which is a "elevated BUN:Creatinine ratio" and leans towards a diagnosis of "prerenal azotemia". This process that the kidneys are not getting adequate blood supply. This can be from something as simple as dehydration or beside bad heart letdown. The actual kidneys are not necessarily what is damaged. Traditional education is that a ratio of greater than 20:1 leads you towards a diagnosis of prerenal azotemia.
Now consider if the BUN be 50 (abnormally high) and the Creatinine was 5.0 (abnormally high). You would conspicuously have kidney dysfunction because these are exceptional values, yet the ratio is "normal" - 10:1. This suggests a diagnosis of disrupt to the actual kidney. Damage can be from infection, drugs, hypertension, diabetes, or many other cause.
To sum up, the ratio leads clinicians towards a diagnosis of the source of deviant kidney function tests - outside the kidney or contained by the kidney. Further workup is done with something call the fractional excretion of sodium or FENa. Urine sodium and urine creatinine measurements are required to calculate it. Here's a intermingle to a site that helps one add it.
http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/p...