EUTox -  An endorsed ERA-EDTA Working Group

 European Uremic Working group (EUTox) is a Working Group of the European Society of Artificial Organs (ESAO) and an endorsed Working Group of the ERA-EDTA. EUTox’s major interests are the identification of yet unknown uremic toxins and the development of new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of chronic kidney diseases.

As part of its annual activities, EUTox organises a CME course that is open to European and non-European attendees and especially to trainees: “The path to end stage renal disease and beyond”. The CME course will be held in Toulouse (France) on September 22, 2017, back-to-back with EUTox’s Autumn meeting.

The course boasts the contributions of EUTox members and local specialists in the field of interest of the Working Group that will cover aspects related to Acute and Chronic Kidney Disease, analyse the factors determining progression to end-stage kidney disease, the markers allowing predicting progression and the approaches preventing it or treating it if end-stage occurs.

Click here to read the CME program and learn more about travel grant opportunities.

Just published online! Read the latest NDT and CKJ articles

Percutaneous catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) brought pain relief

Loin Pain Haematuria Syndrome (LPHS) and Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) are nephrologic diseases that cause chronic severe kidney-related pain. In this study published in NDT, percutaneous catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) was tested as a treatment option for these patients. RDN was performed in 11 patients (6 with LPHS and 5 with ADPKD). The treatment brought pain relief to the patients and the dosage of analgesic medication could be decreased. The present results can serve as the rationale for a larger, preferably randomized (sham) controlled study.

Read more →

Rituximab – how high is the risk of infectious complications?

While the fears of experts have been agreed that rituximab might go along with a risk of malignancy, there are now concerns regarding the risk of infectious complications as well. Rituximab has been associated with serious infections, including Pneumocystis Jiroveci Pneumonia (PJP) and the reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and tuberculosis (TB). The risk of infection appears to be the result of a variety of mechanisms and is also related to individual patient characteristics and the indication for rituximab. Individualization of treatment is, therefore, crucial. That is the key message of this article that has just been published in CKJ. Besides, particular attention should be given to strategies to minimize the risk of infectious complications.

Read more →

Report on the Council Election Voting Process

The ERA-EDTA Council would like to inform all ERA-EDTA members that the total number of members who participated in the online Council member elections held in Madrid (Spain) at the 54th ERA-EDTA Congress was 943 (17.61%), out of which only 29 (3.1%) voted using the online voting station located in the registration area of the Congress venue. More details can be found in the chart below. Hence, at the 55th ERA-EDTA Congress in Copenhagen (Denmark) the voting station will remain open only during the coffee breaks the day before the General Assembly, thus on May 25, 2017.

Number of eligible voters                            5354

Total number of voters                                943 (17.61%)
(% of eligible voters)

Number of voters using the voting booth    29 (3.1%) 
(% of total number of voters)