Serum cystatin C as an endogenous marker of renal function in patients with chronic kidney disease

The estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is an essential part of the evaluation of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Recently, serum cystatin C has been proposed as a new endogenous marker of GFR. Authors compared serum creatinine, creatinine clearance calculated from Cockcroft and Gault formula and serum cystatin C against (51)CrEDTA clearance in 252 patients with CKD and GFR <90 mL/min/1.73 m(2). Analysis of correlations and diagnostic accuracy (receiver operating characteristic curves) of different GFR markers indicate that serum cystatin C is a more reliable marker of GFR in patients with CKD than serum creatinine.