Moving Forward

© c or ra do ba ra tta ph ot os , f ot ol ia .c om Professor Cannata-Andía, the main overarching theme or banner of the Congress is “Moving forwards” – and the Congress CI is a picture of a Spanish contemporary artist showing a woman moving forwards. Why do you think nephrology has to move forwards? Well, the first motto we had chosen for this Congress was “Nephrology is much more than kidney disease”. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is strongly related to aging somehow, and is even synonymous with premature aging. Moreover, it often affects older people, so it is also associated with cardiovascular disease, bone disease, hypertension, diabetes or rheumatic disease. That explains why there are so many overlaps between nephrology and other specialties of inner medicine. In my opinion, nephrology has to move forward in terms of its self-conception: Nephrology is still mainly perceived of as an organ-centered specialty focusing on the kidneys only. But we European nephrologists need to understand our discipline as a more general one, dealing with a kind of systemic disease, because kidney diseases affect many other organ systems and cause many comorbidities. We need to acquire the full picture, not just concentrate on the small core of renal replacement therapy, as it is often the case. Nephrology has to move forward and also has to occupy and strengthen its more peripheral areas. By doing so, we can develop and intensify our productive collaboration with other disciplines. We are already involved in many interdisciplinary projects, and there are many joint sessions at our Congress. But there is still room for improvement. Nephrology is not only about substituting for renal function – we have to move forward and revive every facet of our fascinating, overarching specialty. This is what we had in mind when we combined the initial banner theme with “Moving forwards”.