What is your approach to lab and imaging monitoring in a patient with an elevated creatinine following a unilateral nephrectomy?  

One should expect some elevation in serum creatinine after unilateral nephrectomy in the majority of patients. Hyperfiltration seems to be universal but is often not complete. Over time, the serum creatinine stabilizes and often improves some but likely not to baseline. I would repeat serum creatini...

I find the new baseline creatinine after a nephrectomy to be rather unpredictable. Certainly, hyper-filtration of the remaining nephrons will occur, but unless they increase 2X, the creatinine has to increase. Realize that a patient may have a normal creatinine before and after nephrectomy eg increa...

Yes.