Category: Nephrology
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History of nephrology: modern era
George DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States Twentieth century Three major developments—renal biopsy, dialysis, and transplantation—revolutionized nephrology in the second half of the 20th century. Renal biopsy transformed the diagnostic approach to renal disease from a clinical methodology to one based on morphological analysis. Presently over one million patients with renal failure are maintained by dialysis throughout…
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Domenico Cotugno (1736-1822)
During a period of over 40 years Domenico Cotugno served as professor of anatomy at the University of Naples, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the world, founded by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II in 1224. His academic career was marked by several important advances for which he is remembered today,…
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Richard Bright, the father of nephrology
Two centuries will soon have passed since Richard Bright, of Guy’s Hospital, London, described the disease that came to bear his name. Within a few years of his original publication, the term Bright’s Disease became virtually synonymous with kidney disease—in England, Germany, France, and the United States. In its full-blown formulation it consisted of four…
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Lithotripsy: a historical review
Rabie Abdel-HalimRiyadh, Saudi Arabia Although lithotripsy1 is often looked on as a modern discovery, its roots may be traced back to antiquity. Yet there is little mention of lithotripsy in Greek medical writings, perhaps because of Hippocrates’s injunction to avoid cutting for the stone2 (Cumston, 1968). This silence lasted for several centuries (Dimopoulos, Gialas, Likourinas,…
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Oliver Murray Wrong: A giant in nephrology
Todd Ing Professor Oliver Wrong (Figure 1), a giant in renal medicine, passed away on February 24, 2012. At the age of 87, his death should not, perhaps, have seemed untimely and shocking. But Oliver remained intellectually productive until the very end, working to expand science’s understanding of how the body regulates fluid, salt and…