What is glomerular filtration rate (GFR)?

Glomerular filtration rate is one of the medical procedures to check how well the kidney organ is working.

Examination of GFR or glomerular filtration rate is also the best medical procedure that doctors do to determine the stage of kidney disease.

Kidneys are the main filtering system in the body. This organ has the function of eliminating waste from the body and removing it through urine.

To support this function, the kidney organ has a part called the glomerulus that works as a small filter to filter metabolic waste from the bloodstream.

If the kidneys are not working well, the glomerulus will not filter optimally. Disturbing the function of this organ can certainly trigger more serious kidney disease.

What is the function of the GFR test?

This examination will help the doctor find disorders in the kidney organ. This test will estimate how much blood is passing through the glomerulus.

The doctor will perform this procedure in a simple way, which is to use the creatinine level through a blood test. Next, the creatinine level is entered into the GFR calculator.

The GFR calculator is a mathematical formula to calculate the filtration rate with a number of information, such as creatinine level, age, weight, height, gender, and race.

So, it is not rare that this medical procedure is also referred to as an eGFR examination or estimated glomerular filtration rate.