Cystatin C

Overview:

Cystatin C is a small protein produced at a steady rate by nearly all cells and removed from the blood by the kidneys. Because production does not depend much on muscle mass, it avoids a known weakness of creatinine, which reads high in people with a lot of muscle and low in those with very little. That makes cystatin C particularly useful in older adults, people with low muscle mass, and those at extremes of body size. This test reports both the protein and an estimated glomerular filtration rate calculated from it, and current guidance often combines both markers.

Categories:

Kidney

Biomarkers:

2 biomarkers