Patterns of urinary protein excretion in patients with sepsis.

Urine protein excretion patterns have been studied in 42 patients with sepsis and compared with that in 21 healthy controls. Patients with sepsis were shown to have highly significant increases in fractional clearances for beta 2-microglobulin, albumin, amylase and immunoglobulin G as compared with the controls. Analysis of the pattern of protein excretion demonstrates that the proteinuria is of the tubular rather than the glomerular type. There was no evidence that administration of aminoglycoside antibiotics contributed to the production of tubular proteinuria, and in particular these drugs did not appear to affect the excretion of beta 2-microglobulin.