Effective Monday, March 5, 2012, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics core clinical laboratory will begin running the Roche Diagnostics assay for cystatin C. This assay will be available in Epic as "CYSTATIN C" [LAB2967]. The reference ranges are:

0-3 months: 0.8-2.3 mg/L
4-11 months: 0.7-1.5 mg/L
1-17 years: 0.5-1.3 mg/L
18 years and older: 0.5-1.0 mg/L

The specimen type is 4.5 mL plasma separator tube (PST).  Minimum requirements – 3 mL whole blood from one light green tube (adults) or ONE light green top microtainer (pediatric patients). The test will be available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week (including holidays) with a turnaround time of 1 hour upon receipt in laboratory.

Cystatin C is used as a marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR).  The plasma concentration of cystatin C is mostly independent of muscle mass and gender from 1 year of age and older.

Questions should be directed to Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD, medical director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory (384-9380, matthew-krasowski@uiowa.edu).