HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE AND NEPHROLOGY

The history of nephrology is a part of culture in general and should b e treated not as a hobby or an isolated specialty of medical science, but as closely connected with medical education and everyday clinical practice. In the age of the apotheosis of renal biotechnology, medicin e more than ever needs to combine Hippocratic messages with renal tech nologic achievements, in order both to restore quality of life in pati ents with renal disease and to bring harmony and balance to individual s impaired in body and soul. Indeed, Hippocratic medicine lies at the root of the development of clinical nephrology. Hippocratic writings h ave not lost their nephrologic interest, despite the enormous recent a dvances in renal technology. Today's practising nephrologist can still learn not only from Hippocratic clinical observations, but also from the prognostic thoughts, the ethical principles, the philosophic conce pts and the humane messages of the 'father of clinical nephrology'.