To determine renal function, 99mTc-DMSA renal uptake was measured from renal tomographic images obtained by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). A total of 77 tests was conducted on 73 patients with various diseases in the kidneys and urinary tract to determine renal uptake. The correlation coefficient(r) between total renal volume and total renal uptake was 0.3509 and that between renal volume and uptake of 143 kidneys was 0.5433. In 62 patients whose creatinine clearance could be measured, the correlation coefficient between creatinine clearance and total renal volume was 0.2352, and that between creatinine clearance and total renal uptake was 0.8854, that is, creatinine clearance correlated well with renal uptake. Renal volume and uptake determined in 10 normal male and 10 normal female adults were 220 ml and 26.8% for the right kidney and 239 ml and 27.6% for the left kidney for the males and 206 ml and 26.4% (right) and 237 ml and 27.9% (left) for the females. This method, which requires no blood or urine collection, is very useful as an individual kidney function test to evaluate individual kidney function and to understand kidney function before and after operation in patients with renal and urinary diseases.