BUN Full Form | Full Form of BUN
BUN Full Form - Blood Urea Nitrogen
Blood Urea Nitrogen
- BUN stands for Blood Urea Nitrogen. It refers to the blood urea nitrogen test, which is additionally referred to as serum BUN test.
- This test is used to measure the level of waste products (urea nitrogen) in your blood. If the levels are off the traditional range, either your kidneys or liver isn't working properly. So, it's mainly used to determine how well your kidneys are working.
- The test measures the quantity of urea nitrogen within the blood. Urea nitrogen is produced by the Liver as a waster product when our body breaks down proteins.
- It's filtered out by the kidneys then it's expelled from the body through urine. The BUN level increases when the kidney or liver is damaged or not working properly as a damaged kidney couldn't filter or separate the urea nitrogen from the blood.
- Eventfully it's not expelled from the body through urine and there'll be too much urea nitrogen within the blood, an indication of a damaged kidney.
Normal BUN Levels
- Healthy adult man : 8 to 20 mg of urea nitrogen per 100ml (8-20 mg/dl) of blood.
- Healthy adult woman : 6 to 20 mg of urea nitrogen per 100ml (6-20 mg/dl) of blood.
- Children: 5 to 18 mg of urea nitrogen per 100ml (5-18 mg/dl) of blood.
- Some key factors which will cause an increase within the BUN are:
- High protein diet
- Decrease in Glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
- Decreased blood volume (hypovolemia)
- Congestive heart failure
- Gastrointestinal hemorrhage
- Increased catabolism
- Besides, kidney failure or diseases, BUN test also helps diagnose various medical conditions:
- Congestive heart failure
- Gastrointestinal bleeding
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- High protein levels
- Urinary tract obstruction