On behalf of: Joint Action Nephrology in Eastern Europe
The Joint Action Nephrology in Eastern Europe, jointly promoted by ERA and ISN, accepted the invitation of the Slovenian Society of Nephrology to organize a one-day Nephrology Update Course in the scenic village of Brdo close to Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was held on 5 May 2001. The main topics were: (i) atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis; (ii) reports on ongoing work from Slovenia and Croatia; and (iii) diabetic nephropathy. An international faculty had been assembled consisting of B. Krumme (Wiesbaden), S. Schönberg (Heidelberg) and A. Wiecek (Katowice) who discussed issues in the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. This was followed by discussions on blood pressure on dialysis (E. Ritz, Heidelberg) and cardiovascular interventions in dialysed patients (R. N. Foley, Salford).
Extremely complete registry data from Slovenia were presented by J. Buturovic-Ponikvar (Ljubljana) concerning renal replacement therapy in Slovenia as well as long-term follow-up of renal transplant artery stenosis. S. Cala (Zagreb) provided information on a relatively high incidence and prevalence of diabetic nephropathy in Croatia. M. Malovrh (Ljubljana) reported on the local experience with Duplex sonography in renal artery stenosis and vessel monitoring by Duplex sonography before arteriovenous fistula construction. P. Kes (Zagreb) reported on renal dysfunction after cardiac surgery and D. Pavlovic discussed complex issues of soft tissue calcification in chronic renal failure.
In the evening session P. Fioretto (Padova) gave an update on the renal lesion in diabetic nephropathy, G. Mayer (Innsbruck) discussed early changes in diabetic nephropathy and E. Ritz (Heidelberg) discussed the management of the diabetic patient with end-stage renal disease. This was followed by a round table discussion with participation of the audience on the selection of treatment modality for replacement therapy in diabetics.
The course was attended by almost all 70 nephrologists working in Slovenia and 12 Croatian colleagues who participated actively in the discussion and interacted with the speakers in a `meet the Professor' format.
The Joint Action Nephrology in Eastern Europe was encouraged by numerous participants to provide more intensive courses similar to this one in the future.