Changes in Renal Function in Early Pregnancy in Women with One Kidney

In healthy women the 24-hour endogenous creatinine clearance is elevated by some 50 percent within 6 weeks of conception and an analogous increase of the 24-hour glucose excretion occurs. 24-hour glucose excretion later reverts to normal, reflecting a delayed onset of increased tubular reabsorption. Following unilateral nephrectomy there are marked increases in RPF and GFR in the contralateral kidney. Single hypertrophied kidneys apparently can adapt still further as in normal pregnancy. We have studied 5 women, in satisfactory general health prior to the pregnancy, each with only one kidney, before conception and during early pregnancy. Three had had unilateral nephrectomy for renal trauma 6-9 years earlier. two had received renal allografts 3 years earlier. In all cases the endogenous creatinine clearance began to rise in the second half of the menstrual cycle and when pregnancy supervened it rose rapidly to a peak value of 30-40 percent above the midcycle level within 7-10 weeks of the last menstrual period. That early peak was not always sustained and GFR subsequently fell to a level of 25-30 percent above the midcycle level. These changes in renal function were slower and smaller than in healthy women with 2 kidneys but were compatible with a successful outcome of pregnancy in these five cases.