Do you still use the urinary anion gap to estimate renal ammonium excretion in patients with a non-anion gap metabolic acidosis, given its limitations?
Answer from: at Academic Institution
Yes, I do, but especially as a teaching tool to help understand the make-up of urine in different clinical scenarios. Of course, a urine NH4+ would make this all so much easier, but I believe that the UAG is usually still of value in the evaluation of a NAGMA.
The Achilles heel of it, of course, is...
Yes, I still use the urine anion gap (UAG) in clinical practice. While its limitations are well recognized, most hospitals currently lack the capability to directly measure urinary ammonium. It would be preferable to measure NH4+ if this were available, however, I do not think we should complet...
I use both urinary anion gap and urinary osmolal gap to estimate renal ammonium excretion in patients with a non-anion metabolic acidosis. In clinical settings, in which ammonium is excreted with a non-chloride anion, the urinary osmolal gap will be more reliable in estimating renal ammonium excreti...
Yes, I still use the urine anion gap - I like to use it for teaching purposes, but also it is sometimes easier to obtain. Even at our institution, urine ammonia is a send out and can take at least 48 hours to come back.