High Creatinine Level - Renal Failure

Elevated creatinine level is a common medical condition among kidney failure patients. Creatinine is usually produced at a fairly constant rate by the body, so the level of it is normally kept in a stable range (0.5-1.2mg/dl).

Kidney failure elevates creatinine level through impairing kidney filtration function. Failed kidneys lose their ability of discharging excretinine, consequently, excessive creatinine can not be excreted out timely and creatinine level increases. Creatinine level is always used to measure kidney function and in general, the higher the creatinine level is, the poorer the kidney function.

Also, creatinine level is applied to decide whether a kidney problem patient need to start dialysis. Creatinine is small molecular substances and when kidneys fail to discharge it, kidneys fail to discharge other substances which have similar molecular weight with creatinine as well. Therefore, when creatinine level increases to a certain level (usually 5.6), patients are suggested to prepare for dialysis or kidney transplant. However, because of difference of illness condition,

As creatinine level is an index deciding whether dialysis is needed. Lowering creatinine level becomes a hot topic among kidney failure patients. To stop creatinine from continuous increasing, patients try various medications and methods. In fact, elevated creatinine level is just a clinical manifestation, and it occurs because of decreased kidney function. Thereby, instead of reducing creatinine level, recovering kidney function should be the ultimate goal.