Organ Shortage: The Solutions is the latest subject in the Continuing Education series, organized by Fondation Marcel Merieux and Universite Claude Bernard in Lyon. The annual subject is chosen to reflect the status of the topical issues of the year, as taught by leading international experts. The contribution of transplantation and clinical immunology to advanced medicine is considerable and promising. The annual volumes in this series keep the reader abreast of these developments. "

The human prostate gland is of undoubted importance in reproductive physiology and is one of the commonest causes of clinical urological problems in the male patient. Despite the wealth of published lit erature relating to the prostate gland surprisingly little is understood about its neural innervation, the influence of pharmacological factors and its precise physiological functions. Indeed, benign disorders of the prostate gland including benign prostatic hyperplasia, bladder neck dyssynergia and inflammatory disorders of the prostate (prostatitis, prostatodynia) although well recognised clinically, are as yet poorly characterised and understood. It was not until the late 1960s that the subject of urodynamics, which for the first time allowed scientific assessment of the function of the lower urinary tract, was introduced. The first section of this book considers recent advances in our understanding of the innervation of the bladder and prostate gland and the changes in bladder function which accompany prostate medi ated bladder outflow obstruction. The clinical consequence of benign prostatic hyperplasia in many patients is bladder outflow obstruction and although the traditional treatment of these conditions is by the use of ablative surgery, in recent years a number of new modalities have been investigated and are reviewed in the second section of the book.

For the last two decades, the topic of chronic renal failure has been dominated by discussions on dialysis and transplantation. As facilities for treating patients with end-stage renal failure have become more readily available, at least in Europe and North America, attention has once again been drawn to conservative measures which may improve both the overall prognosis and the quality of life of patients with renal impairment. Although severe renal failure may be progressive and many patients will ultimately require some form of renal replacement therapy, it is now widely appreciated that distressing symptoms can often be ameliorated by judicious medical treatment. Children as well as, and perhaps to a greater extent than, adults may benefit from such therapy. This volume examines relevant trends in the conservative man agement of both adults and children with chronic renal failure. Each chapter has been written by recognized experts and provides infor mation of clinical relevance for the average clinician. As the overall prognosis for patients with end-stage renal failure improves it is clear the management of patients with relatively stable chronic renal failure is an important topic not only for nephrologists but for all practising clinicians."

The action of diuretics including cellular mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics, and clinical usage, with much emphasis placed on the most recent findings on the pharmacodynamics of the respective drugs. During the past twenty-five years since volume 14 on Diuretica was published in the Handbook series, the cellular mechanisms of action of diuretics have slowly been unravelled. Today, the role of action within the target cells is known for most of the substances discussed. This has provided a new basis not only for the understanding of drug action but also for secondary effects and interactions. The book represents a comprehensive reference work on the diverse groups of diuretics which are among the most frequently prescribed medications.

The European School of Oncology came into existence to respond to a need for information, education and training in the field of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. There are two main reasons why such an initiative was considered necessary. Firstly, the teaching of oncology requires a rigorously multidiscipli nary approach which is difficult for the Universities to put into practice since their system is mainly disciplinary orientated. Secondly, the rate of technological development that impinges on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been so rapid that it is not an easy task for medical faculties to adapt their curricula flexibly. With its residential courses for organ pathologies and the seminars on new techniques (laser, monoclonal antibodies, imaging techniques etc.) or on the principal therapeutic controversies (conservative or mutilating surgery, primary or adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy alone or integrated), it is the ambition of the European School of Oncology to fill a cultural and scientific gap and, thereby, create a bridge between the University and Industry and between these two and daily medical practice. One of the more recent initiatives of ESO has been the institution of permanent study groups, also called task forces, where a limited number of leading experts are invited to meet once a year with the aim of defining the state of the art and possibly reaching a consensus on future developments in specific fields of on cology."

Nephrology, initially born as a small branch of medicine, has, in the last few decades, become an extraordinary large field of medicine. The recent development of renal medicine is mirrored by the numerous nephrological journals published, a natural consequence of the increasing number of basic and clinical research studies performed continuously all over the world. Undoubtedly the progress which has occurred in the different, specific fields of renal medicine has given rise to subspecialities which range from renal physiology and pathology to hemo- and peritoneal dialysis and renal transplantation. Even the diagnostic methodology in nephrology, very useful in the clinical practice, has become a speciality within the speciality. Thus, the problem for clinical nephrologists, as well as for internists, is to remain continuously up-dated in all fields of nephrology. Nephrology textbooks are published continuously and in great number. However, the time required for having authors appointed, chapters completed, manuscript edited, galley proofs corrected and the whole book printed makes many textbooks already out of date when they go on sale and their half lives are very short. On the other hand, nephrological journals are so many and the articles so numerous and detailed, that it is often impossible to rely on them for up-dating practicing clinicians.

The 1991 International Yearbook of Nephrology is the third in a sueeessful .eries whieh has, as its principal aim, thc presentation of a eomprehensive list of topfes of the greatest current relevanee to elinieal nephrologists. We believe that, by following the subjeets eovered by the Yearbook in the broad field of nephrology, the praetieing nephrologist and nephrologist-in-training ean stay abreast of a number of rapidly advaneing fields. To improve the quality of the Yearbook, we have appointed an Editorial Board to provfde suggestions for topies and authors. Thus, we have invited 58 outstanding nephrologists from around the world (the list of them is included in this issue of the Yearbook) to identify annually potential topies for the Yearbook. The reply was exeel lent and the contribution quite outstanding. Thus, for the 1992 Yearbook, we reeeived more than 150 suggestions. A number of them will be included in the next issue if they continue to be viewed as eurrent and important. We also invite readers to suggest topies for upeoming issues of the Yearbook. The present issue, the 1991 Yearbook, represents an improvement over previous volumes. We expeet this trend to be maintained in future years. As in previous issues, all ehapters provide a eomplete, aeeurate and up-to-date list of important references. We are grateful to all the authors for their exeellent eontributions and for having fulfilled the deadline in forwarding their manuseript. Our special thanks to Kluwer Aeademie Publishers for the timely publieation of this volume."

One person in four in the industrialized countries suffers from hyperuricemia and is therefore at risk of developing gouty arthritis, nephrolithiasis, or any of the other consequences of urate deposition. At present, far too little is known about urate deposition and the mechanisms by which it occurs, as well as about its clinical consequences, which include formation of toph; over the helix of the ear or in bones close to joints that have never exhibited an attack, development of bursitis, chronic tendovaginitis leading to carpal tunnel syndrome, and gouty paraplegia. Information on these matters is needed to estimate the risks of hyperuricemia and to determine when therapeutic intervention is indicated. The contributions and discussions in this book, resulting from an international symposium held in December 1990 in the Medizinische Poliklinik in Munich, provide an up-to-date source of current knowledge about hyperuricemia in man and its clinical consequences.

This volume is based on a very successful meeting on organ transplantation that was held in Kuwait in 1990 under the auspices of the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation. An international group of organ transplant experts attended this conference and their contributions and deliberations have been recent1y updated to produce this definitive and authoritative summary of current clinic al practice in organ transplantation. The initial chapters appropriately focus on the immunology of organ trans plantation with special emphasis on the initial events in the induction of alloreactivity, the mechanisms of rejection, and the potential for tolerance induction. A strong emphasis is placed on the diagnosis of rejection by cellular analysis. The section on immunosuppression deals with several new areas of clinical therapy. The section on renal transplantation is unique in several respects, the long-term results from various countries, including the Middle East, are summarized, the use of living unrelated donors and of ABO incom patible donors - all strategies to maximize organ availability - are presented."

After the positive response which followed the first edition of this book 6 years ago, the editors were encouraged to prepare a completely reworked second edition that includes the modern advances in this field. There has been a complete change of diagnostic procedure in the detection of renal tumors, which is now based on sonography, computed tomography, and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, pushing intravenous urography and angiography completely into the background. Also, new methods of treat ment with radionuclides using embolisation are incorporated. The description of morphological structures forms the basis for under standing and recognising pathology of the kidneys and adrenals. The con tents of pathological morphology could be extended, as we are of the opinion that the detection and therapy of renal and adrenal tumors are derived from different areas of diagnostic science. We are indebted to Springer-Verlag for the excellent book production. On behalf of all the authors, we would like to thank our colleagues and associates for their cooperation in the realisation of this project. The editors hope that this volume will be of interest to radiologists, pa thologists, urologists, pediatrists, and also radiotherapists. Essen, April 1987 EBERHARD LOHR LUTZ-DIETRICH LEDER Table of Contents Pathology of Renal and Adrenal Neoplasms LEDER, L.-D., RICHTER, H.l.

The 1992 International Yearbook of Nephrology is the 4th in a successful series of yearly books updating practising nephrologists and nephrologists-in-training on rapidly changing areas of nephrology. We were encouraged to proceed in our editorial venture by reviews of the previous issues which have appeared in various Nephrology Journals. These reviews have pointed to the successful use of the International Editorial Board, the broad range of topics of current interest which have been covered and the comprehensive and practical nature of the reviews. The principal aim of the Yearbook remains to provide reviews which are more current than those which appear in Nephrology textbooks and which can be in the hands of the readers a few months after the authors have completed the manuscripts. The appointed authors are always experts in the field, who are asked to give an objective review of the topic, up-dating the readers on the world-wide literature and providing them with a complete, accurate and up-ta-date list of important recent references. We have decided to maintain the successful format of the first three issues. Thus, the volume will continue to be divided into sections; each section will continue to have a different primary focus every year, depending upon what is of greatest interest at the time.

In 1968 Drs. B. E. C. Nordin and A. Hodgkinson organized the First International Symposium on Urolithiasis Research in Leeds, England. One hundred and five participants from continental Europe, Great Britain, and the United States met to review their work and exchange ideas regarding the formation of urinary calculi. This meeting achieved several important goals. It pulled together a nidus of workers in the many scientific disciplines that relate to urolithiasis. This nidus served as the seed for research growth in a complex, interdisciplinary field. It established a forum for con tinuing communication in urolithiasis research with subsequent sym posia being held every 4 years. The Williamsburg Symposium was the fourth in the Leeds-Madrid Davos series involving 186 participants from throughout the world. A stated emphasis was on clinical research under way in the field. There were no invited speakers and for the first time the 41 papers that were presented orally at the meeting were selected from 184 submitted abstracts. A total of 134 papers were presented in the poster sessions in the afternoons where informal exchange between interested participants and investigators could occur without the restrictions of a plenary session. Virtually all areas of urolithi asis research from the most fundamental physical chemistry to clinical patterns of disease and specific modes of treatment were presented, reviewed and discussed during the meeting.

Glutamine is a key aminoacid for the synthesis of numerous biologic- ally important compounds in mammalian cells and is a carrier form of ammonia. The advance in knowledge on the metabolic significance of this amino acid is presented in in-depth treatments by experts in this active research field. This includes the enzymology of glutamine synthe- tase and glutaminase activities in different mammalian organs, notably liver, kidney and brain; properties of glutamine transport across bio- logical membranes; role of glutamine metabolism in the liver, with emphasis on the recent discovery of intercellular heterogeneity with respect to enzyme distribution and its functional consequences for ammonia/urea metabolism and pH regulation; renal and intestinal glutamine metabolism; cerebral glutamine/ glutamate interrelationships; skeletal muscle; role of glutamine in cell culture; and finally the clinical aspects, including the new outlook of glutamine antagonists in cancer therapy as well as the role of glutamine in hepatic coma and encephalo- pathy. Some, but not all, of the contributors to this work attended the 48th Conference of the Gesellschaft fur Biologische Chemie on glutamine metabolism held in Gottingen, W. Germany, in September 1983. This conference was supported by the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, Dr. H. Falk Foundation, Freiburg, and the J. Pfrimmer Co. , Erlangen. The abstracts of the contributions to the conference were published in Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 364,1237-125,6,1983, and this book is not intended as the proceedings of that meeting.

Heart and brain interaction is an increasingly vital area of clinical investigation. This is the most comprehensive review of the subject available, presented by internationally recognized authorities in the field. The book offers extensive coverage of cardioembolic stroke, including a brand new contribution on the mechanism of hemorrhagic infarction. Controversial topics such as anticoagulation, combined carotid and coronary surgery and screening for silent coronary disease are covered. Also included are a comprehensive review of the cardiovascular/neurobiological role of the central nervous system in hypertension and sudden death, and a practical approach to the patient with syncope. This integrated, topical presentation makes essential reading for neurologists, cardiologists, internists and anyone caring for patients with stroke or cardiac disease.

For more than a century, the condition now known as Idiopathic Hydronephrosis has been recognised as a clinical entity, and following the original description by Rayer in 1841 a variety of procedures were devised in attempts to correct the condition surgically. Most of these early methods were introduced in the last decade of the nineteenth century by several illustrious clinicians, including Trendelenburg, KOster, Fenger and Sutton. For many years diagnosis was based purely upon the patients presenting signs and symptoms and not until the early part of this century was technology available to assist in the pre-operative diagnosis of the condition. Early methods depended upon radiological techniques, and the introduction of the retrograde pyelogram by Voelcker and Lichtenberg in 1906 represented a significant advance in diagnostic methodology. Other methods also dependent upon radiographic techniques were subsequently introduced, including urography in the late 1930s by Swick, and more recently, the method of cineradio graphy, as pioneered with considerable success by Peter Narath in the decade following World War II. During the past 50 years a variety of surgical procedures have been introduced for the treatment of idiopathic hydronephrosis. That so many different methods have been devised suggests that no one specific technique is capable of achieving a complete cure in all cases."

The hemodynamic mechanisms of hypertension are often limited to the study of three dominant parameters: blood pressure, cardiac output and vascular resis tance. Accordingly, the development of hypertension is usually analyzed in terms of a 'struggle' between cardiac output and vascular resistance, resulting in the classical pattern of normal cardiac output and increased vascular resistance, thus indicating a reduction in the caliber of small arteries. However, during the past years, the clinical management of hypertension has largely modified these simple views. While an adequate control of blood pressure may be obtained with antihypertensive drugs, arterial complications may occur, involving mainly the coronary circulation and suggesting that several parts of the cardiovascular system are altered in hypertension. Indeed, disturbances in the arterial and the venous system had already been noticed in animal hypertension. The basic assumption in this book is that the overall cardiovascular system is involved in the mechanisms of the elevated blood pressure in patients with hypertension: not only the heart and small arteries, but also the large arteries and the venous system. For that reason, the following points are emphasized. First, the cardiovascular system in hypertension must be studied not only in terms of steady flow but also by taking into account the pulsatile components of the heart and the arterial systems. Second, arterial and venous compliances are altered in hypertension and probably reflect intrinsic alterations of the vascular wall."

Vittorio E. Andreucci of keeping alive patients in terminal chronic Initially created with the purpose renal failure, dialysis has undergone improvements in methodology, and its final goal has become complete health rehabilitation and optimization of the quality of life of chronic dialysis patients. To achieve this, many investigators have attempted to increase dialysis efficiency and at the same time shorten dialysis time. Their main concern was, obviously, patient safety: the Latin proverb 'primum non nocere' is still valid all over the world. Thus, when clinical observations of the first patients on regular dialysis therapy suggested an inverse relationship between duration of dialysis sessions and severity of peripheral neuropathy, long and frequent dialysis sessions were considered the only way to prevent the catastrophic consequences of nerve damage and underdialysis syndrome. It was then, in 1971, when dialysis duration was 8- 12 hours per session, that Vincenzo Cambi started a 'short dialysis' trial, i. e. , 4 hours 3 times weekly or 3 hours every second day. For the first time, dialysis was shortened from 24-36 hours weekly to 10. 5-12 hours weekly [1, 2]. In 1971 I was still at the Parma University Hospital. We had both just returned from the United States, and Dr. Cambi was responsible for the dia lysis unit.

One of the time-honored foundations of the practice of pediatric medicine is the understanding and application of the principles of fluid, electrolyte and acid-base disorders. Presented in a new softcover format, "Fluid and Electrolytes in Pediatrics: A Comprehensive Handbook" brings together a select group of authors who share a passion and an appreciation of the contributions of pioneers in pediatric medicine and an expertise for their respective areas in a new softcover edition. The volume provides in-depth discussions of the basic functioning of the kidneys, skin and the lungs. Each chapter describes the etiology and demographics, biological mechanisms, patient presentation characteristics, therapy options and consequences of optimal treatment as well as delayed treatment. "Fluid and Electrolytes in Pediatrics: A Comprehensive Handbook" provides health professionals in many areas of research and practice with the most up-to-date, accessible, and well referenced volume on the importance of the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte concentrations in the pediatric population, especially under acute care.

Increasing the accumulation of aluminum in the bone (body) in cases of renal osteodystrophy may influence the histopathologic aspect of the bones. Alumi- num blunts the effect of increased PTH secretion and favours the genesis of osteoid. That means, in cases of renal failure combined with aluminum accumulation, a relatively low bone tunover is found and no fibrosis of the bone marrow. Furthermore the amount of osteoid is increased. This means that there is evidence of osteomalacia especially when the latter is defined as an increased amount of osteoid covered with a relatively low number of cubic osteoblasts. To a certain extent the effect of aluminum accumulation is comparable to the effect of PTX. Treatment with DFO may normalize the bone, although not necessarily with a concomittant disappearance of alumi- num from the bone. The presence of aluminum in the bone can be suggested by routine histologic investigation of the bone and can be made rather probably by the aluminum staining combined with iron-staining, but can only be proven by more advanced techniques like ET AAS and LAMMA. References 1. Boyce BF, Elder HY, Elliot HL, Fogelman I, Gell GS, lunor Bl, Beastall G, Boyle YT, 1982: Hypercaicaemic ostemalacia due to aluminium toxicity. Lancet 6: 1009. 2. Verbueken AH, Visser Wl, Van de Vyver FL, Van Grieken RE, De Broe ME, 1986: The use of laser microprobe mass analysis (LAMMA) to control the staining of aluminum by aurin tricarboxylate (aluminon). Stain Technology 61: 287.

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a rational frame of reference for assessing the pathophysiology of those disorders in which derangements of membrane transport processes are a major factor responsible for the clinical manifestations of disease. In the present context, we use the term "membrane transport processes" in a catholic sense, to refer to those molecular processes whose cardinal function, broadly speaking, is the vectorial transfer of molecules- either individually or as ensembles-across biological interfaces, the latter includ- ing those interfaces which separate different intracellular compartments, the cellu- lar and extracellular compartments, and secreted fluids-such as glomerular fil- trate-and extracellular fluids. Evidently, consideration of these processes, and of the pathophysiology of membrane disorders, requires an understanding of the composition and structure of biomembranes, of the physical rules governing mem- brane transport processes, of the way in which chemical regulators-either physio- logic or pharmacologic-regulate or modify membrane transport processes, and of the ways in which these events are interpreted into specialized phenomena such as cell volume regulation, signal transmission in excitable tissues, cell-to-cell commu- nication, and secretory processes in epithelia. Accordingly, Physiology of Membrane Disorders is divided into five major sections. Part 1, The Nature of Biological Membranes, provides an overview ofthe physical structure and composition of plasma membranes, and of the dynamic relations between structure and function.

MRI has opened up new possibilities in combined morphological and functional imaging, and now there is a book which discusses both aspects together. Two systems which already demonstrate the advantages of MRI are presented. In the cardiovascular system, motion and flow can be imaged so that even flow velocities in the deep vessels of the body can be measured, and turbulences can be identified. In the study of the kidneys, a combination of renally excreted contrast media and imaging provides within seconds insight into glomerular filtration in health and disease. These current possibilities, and their limitations, bring insight into the future potential of MRI.

I am honored to be invited to prepare a foreword for the proceedings of the Second International Lubeck Conference on Erythropoietin (Epo). I congratulate Wolfgang Jelkmann, Horst Pagel and Christoph Weiss for their organization of an excellent program for this conference which updated all of us on the advances made in erythropoietin research during the past few years since the first conference in June of 1988. I am sure that Professor Paul Carnot, had he been present at this conference, would be very pleased and proud of the advances made in the field of erythropoietin since his and Madame DeFlandre's seminal finding in 1906 (1) that rabbits produced a humoral substance following bleeding which controls red blood cell production. The reports by Hjort in 1936 (2) and by Erslev in 1953 (3) that large volumes of plasma or serum from rabbits following a bleeding stimulus, when injected into normal donor rabbits, produced a reticulocytosis, were very significant in confirming the existence of a humoral factor which controls erythropoiesis. Reissmann's parabiotic rat experiments in 1950 (4) reawakened interest in erythropoietin when he proved that hypoxia stimulated the production of a factor which regulates red cell produc tion. The studies of several investigators such as Jacobson et al. (5), Fisher and Birdwell (6), Kuratowska et al. (7) and Nathan et al."

Enormous progress has been made in the treatment of chronic renal failure over the last decades. Until the 1950s, chronic renal failure was considered to be an inexorably lethal condition. This is no longer the case. In addition, the disease, severe uremic syndrome, is now extremely rare, if existent at all, in industrialized countries. Physicians of my generation who saw patients hospitalized with hemor raghes, pericarditis, severe anemia, cardiac failure, "malignant hypertension," pruritus, vomiting, generalized edema, and convulsions are particularly grate ful for this progress. I well remember seeing such patients hospitalized in the last days or weeks of their lives and also remember the sense of impotence I suffered for the com plete lack of efficient measures I had at my disposal to manage their condition. Nowadays, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplantation allow patients with chronic renal failure to survive for very long periods of time in a satisfactory condition. Why then is there still a sense of dissatisfaction and why should we study dietary management? The drawbacks of dialysis and transplantation are the main reasons, but the certainty that dietary therapy is complementary to dialysis and even better than dialysis in certain conditions, is also very important."

Malignancies are frequent complications in organ transplantation, mainly as the result of infection with certain viruses and of long-term immunosuppression. The epidemiology confirms that the increased incidence concerns certain cancers, especially HIV-related skin cancers and EBV-related lymphoproliferative malignancies. This book covers all currently available information on this important topic of the relationships between transplantation and malignancies: preexisting cancers, posttransplant cancers, their etiology and pathophysiology, their prevention and treatment. A significant part of the volume is devoted to prophylaxis, early detection and modern forms of therapy in posttransplant lymphomas. As a conclusion of all these new data, the theory of immunosurveillance deserves to be significantly modified.