Albuminuria is a medical condition that is characterized by the presence of albumin (which is a blood protein) in the urine of the affected individual. Under normal conditions, the albumin content of the blood is filtered out by the kidneys. As a result the primary cause of albuminuria can be directly attributed to an improper functioning of the kidneys. This occurrence could be the result of an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart failure, or even systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A more serious progression of the condition is known as macroalbuminuria. This is characterized by the leakage of albumin and protein into the urine as a result of early kidney damage. Micral albumin testing is done to diagnose the presentation as well as the extent to which the kidney failure has progressed.
The micral albumin test is a urine test that is essentially focused on identifying the presence of albumin in the urine and the earlier the presence is detected, the more effective the treatment will be. The urine test is mostly random and would require a clean catch midstream urine sample. To get the best kind of sample, the patient should wash his or her hands and make sure they are clean enough to avoid contaminating the sample and then urinate. While in the midst of the urination, the collection cup should be placed in the path of the urine stream and about 2 oz of urine should be collected without any interruption to the flow. Once this quantity has been attained, the patient can continue urinating into the toilet or urinal. In most cases, the doctor will request you to collect timed instances of your urine which means that you will constantly need to collect urine samples over the course of the day. However, on waking up in the morning, the first urination should not be retained. Do not forget to write down the time at which it was performed so as to sustain a 24 hour timeframe through which the urine samples should be collected. You could also be asked to collect samples of urine over the course of the day in a jar that can hold about 1 gallon. This jar will have a small amount of preservative in it and must be kept away from any kind of contamination.
There is no special kind of preparation required when going in for a micral albumin urine test as random samples are used.
Submitted by M T on April 7, 2010 at 10:31