A METHOD OF MEASURING THE GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE OF A HUMAN OR ANIMAL PATIENT, A SELF-USE KIT FOR PROVIDING BLOOD SAMPLES FOR USE IN MEASURING THE GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE OF A PATIENT, AND A METHOD OF COLLECTING TIMED SAMPLES OF CAPILLARY BLOOD FROM A PATIENT

摘要

A method of measuring glomerular filtration rate in a human or animal patient comprising: (i) intravenously administering a known amount of filtration marker to the patient at a known time; (ii) taking a sample of capillary blood from the patient at a known time after administration and absorbing a droplet of blood on an absorbent substrate to form a blood spot on the substrate; (iii) causing or allowing the blood spot to dry on the substrate; (iv) removing a portion of said substrate, said portion having a predetermined, substantially constant volume, and being substantially uniformly impregnated with the blood spot; (v) extracting an analyte from the portion; (vi) quantitating the amount of said filtration marker in said analyte; and (vii) determining the glomerular filtration rate of the patient from the quantitated amount of said filtration marker.