A Technetium-99m DTPA computer-assisted renal scan and CCR studies were performed on 35 spinal cord injured patients who had been hospitalized in the rehabilitation ward of Kaohsiung Medical College Hospital for less than 6 months during the period of August 1988 to March 1990. For each patient, the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), the effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), and the filtration fraction (FF) were obtained by a renal scan. CCR was measured by conventional procedure and was corrected with body length, body weight and body surface. Least square fit linear regression analysis revealed the best correlation between GFR and CCR. Based on GFR values the renal function was classified into four grades from normal to severe damage and the change of renal function was analyzed using four corresponding factors. The results showed that the ratio of GFR impairment in early spinal injury is 48.6% (mostly mild impairment). There are not significant differences between levels of lesion, severity of injury or successfulness of bladder training by Fisher's exact test. Renal function deteriorated proportionally with age and most of those patients having the worst renal function belonged to an old age group. Thus age is also one of the major factors in renal function impairment. Single kidney function impairment was noted in two patients whose total GFR or CCR were in the normal range, which implied the characteristic of early detection of renal dysfunction by renal scan.