nephrology

AI overview

Nephrology is a medical specialty focused on studying the kidneys, understanding how they normally work, treating kidney diseases, and preserving kidney health through approaches ranging from diet and medication to dialysis and transplantation. It matters because nephrologists help patients manage kidney function and disease, which are critical to overall health.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Occupation.name: Nephrologist
Occupation.official_names: Physician
Occupation.type: Specialty
Occupation.activity_sector: Medicine
Occupation.formation: Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) Doctor of Osteopathic medicine (D.O.) Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB)
Occupation.employment_field: Hospitals, Clinics
Medical speciality.title: Nephrology
Medical speciality.image: 250px
Medical speciality.caption: A human kidney (click on image for description).
Medical speciality.system: Urinary
Medical speciality.diseases: Hypertension, Kidney cancer
Medical speciality.tests: Kidney biopsy, Urinalysis
Medical speciality.specialist: Nephrologist
Medical speciality.glossary: Glossary of medicine

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

265,310 papers

Interventional Nephrology: Opportunities and Challenges.ReviewAdvances in chronic kidney disease · 2020Niyyar VD, Beathard GDOI: 10.1053/j.ackd.2020.05.013
Refashioning Nephrology Education.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2023Yuan CMDOI: 10.2215/CJN.0000000000000141
Onco-Nephrology: Kidney Disease in the Cancer Patient.ReviewThe Medical clinics of North America · 2023Yarandi N, Shirali ACDOI: 10.1016/j.mcna.2023.03.007
Nephrology Education in Private Practice: My Perspective.ReviewAdvances in chronic kidney disease · 2022Kwon KWDOI: 10.1053/j.ackd.2022.04.006
Educating the Next-Generation Expert in Nephrology Genetics.ReviewSeminars in nephrology · 2025Lanktree MB, Shurrab S, Ejaz R et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2025.151648
Nephrology: As It Was Then, But Is Not Now.ReviewAmerican journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation · 2017Eknoyan GDOI: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2016.06.029
[Transition in nephrology].ReviewInnere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Pape L, Klein L, Gäckler ADOI: 10.1007/s00108-025-01917-1
International Society of Nephrology's 0by25 initiative for acute kidney injury (zero preventable deaths by 2025): a human rights case for nephrology.Lancet (London, England) · 2015Mehta RL, Cerdá J, Burdmann EA et al.DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60126-X

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Wikidata facts

Show 2 more facts

OpenStreetMap tag: healthcare:speciality=nephrology
Commons category: Nephrology

Sources (5)

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~17 min read

Article

12 sections

Contents

Etymology
Scope
Nephrologist
Training
Australia and New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States
Diagnosis
Treatment
Organizations
References
External links

Nephrology (from Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós), meaning "kidney", and λόγος (lógos), meaning "study") is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy (dialysis and kidney transplantation). The word "renal" is an adjective meaning "relating to the kidneys", and its roots are French or late Latin. Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" and "nephro-" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney medicine" (instead of "nephrology") or "kidney replacement therapy", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal and nephro- as appropriate including in "nephrology" and "renal replacement therapy", respectively.

Nephrology also studies systemic conditions that affect the kidneys, such as diabetes and autoimmune disease; and systemic diseases that occur as a result of kidney disease, such as renal osteodystrophy and hypertension. A physician who has undertaken additional training and become certified in nephrology is called a nephrologist.