Value of urine microalbumin/ creatinine ratio in detection of significant renal scar of DMSA scan in children with UTI

Diagnosis of renal damage is crucial in management of urinary tract infection (UTI) in children. DMSA scan is used for detection of cortical defects caused by UTI but it is an invasive and expensive technique, therefore several studies had been tried to find a laboratory parameter could be used alternately. Microalbuminuria (urine albumin/creatinine) is one of them. We decided to compare the urine microalbumin/creatinine ratio in two groups of patients (with significant and non-significant renal scar according to DMSA scan results). Eighty children with a history of UTI were enrolled and Albumin/creatinine ratio was evaluated. 93.6mg/g was calculated as a Cut-off point. According to our results, albumin/creatinine ratio more than 93.6mg/g has 87% sensitivity, 82% specificity, 83.3% positive predictive value, and 86% negative predictive value in diagnosis of significant scar in DMSA scan .Thus, this ratio can be used as a reliable predictive factor of renal damage.