Glomerular filtration rate in children with advanced chronic renal failure: methods of determination and clinical applications.

The rationale, significance and pitfalls of currently available methods for the determination of glomerular filtration rates in children with advanced chronic renal diseases are reviewed. Normal renal clearances in infants and children from birth to adulthood are presented. Methods of serial measurements of renal function, especially by the reciprocals of serum creatinine concentrations, are evaluated. They are applied clinically to monitor the effectiveness of conservative and new modalities of treatment, such as dietary supplementation with essential amino acids plus their keto analogues, and to determine that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 treatment of renal osteodystrophy does not accelerate the deterioration of renal function in children with chronic renal insufficiency.