What is Diabetic Nephropathy

Dr. Rishi Shukla, Endocrinologist, Regency Hospital, Kanpur explains about diabetic nephropathy. When diabetes affects the functioning of kidneys it is termed as diabetic nephropathy. In severe cases it can cause kidney failure. There are two recommended tests for diabetic nephropathy - sugar test known as serum-creatinine test and urine test known as microalbuminuria. Among these two, microalbuminuria is the most important test as it can detect even a small amount of protein in the urine. Thus, any kidney damage is detected in the early stages. Serum-creatinine test is not effective in detecting diabetic nephropathy because by the time urea is detected in the serum, the kidney would have already been damaged significantly.