Determination of glomerular filtration rate by single-plasma sampling technique following injection of radioiodinated diatrizoate

Measurement of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) based on the radioactivity concentration in a single-plasma sample obtained after the injection of radioiodinated diatrizoate (DTZ) has been described. Simultaneous determinations of GFR by use of DTZ based on multiple-sample plasma disappearance curves and inulin correlate highly. Certain theoretical volumes of distribution (injection dose counts divided by plasma concentration expressed as counts per liter of plasma) correlate highly with GFR determined by the multiple-sample plasma disappearance curves. For patients with relatively high GFR (greater than 100 ml/min) best correlations were obtained at 120 min; for patients with GFR 60-100 ml/min, best correlations were obtained at sampling times of 150 min after injection and for patients with GFR less than 60 ml/min, the ideal sampling time was 230 min after injection. For general use the 180-min sampling time may suffice. Since the formulae were found to produce nearly identical GFR values for data obtained from the use of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid and DTZ, the former radiopharmaceutical can probably be substituted for diatrizoate using these formulae and sampling times as long as absence of plasma protein binding of the labeled chelate can be demonstrated.