Test Details: This test is used: Uric acid is a waste product, produced by the break down of organic compounds called purines in the body. Most of it dissolves in the blood, passes through the kidneys and is excreted from the body through urine. This test is utilized for various purposes like; for diagnosis and treatment of renal failure, to monitor patients receiving cytotoxic drugs and a variety of other disorders including gout, leukemia, psoriasis, starvation and other wasting conditions. The major causes of hyperuricemia are increased purine synthesis, inherited metabolic disorder, excess dietary purine intake, increased nucleic acid turnover, malignancy, cytotoxic drugs and decreased excretion due to chronic renal failure or increased renal reabsorption. Hypouricemia, often defined as serum levels below 2.0 mg/dL, is much less common than hyperuricemia. It may be secondary to severe hepatocellular disease with reduced purine synthesis, defective renal tubular reabsorption, overtreatment of hyperuricemia with allopurinol, as well as some cancer therapies (e.g. 6-mercaptopurine).