Therapeutic and Diagnostic Problems in Severe Renal Failure

Abstract

As background for comprehending the origin of this book, it must be noted that Dr. Nils Alwall has been treating patients by hemodialysis since 1946. In this same year Willem Kolff reported on his first 15 patients, similarly treated by dialysis. Until 1959, Alwall's clinic was the only facility in Sweden equipped with an artificial kidney. Possibly because of the nature of government support of medical care, referral facilities are freely used, so that his source of patients is the entire population of 7.5 million in the country. Even with the establishment of more renal centers, he continues to see most cases of severe renal failure in Sweden. Thus it is probable that no nephrologist can point to a significantly longer or more intensive experience in management of uremia by means of dialysis. Compilation of experiences with 2,003 dialyses on 1,057 patients forms the core of a 700-page volume, now