Translations:Inulin/13/en

While inulin is the gold standard for measuring the GFR, it is rarely used in practice due to the expense and difficulty in conducting the test; it requires intravenous (IV) access for the infusion of inulin as well as up to twelve blood samples taken from the patient over the course of four hours. To determine the glomerular filtration rate in humans, a large initial dose of inulin is injected, which is followed by a constant infusion of inulin at a rate which compensates for its loss in the urine, thus maintaining a reasonably constant level in the plasma. In the United States, creatinine clearance is more widely used to estimate GFR.