Istanbul hosts European kidney transplant congress

ISTANBUL

ERA-EDTA's three-day congress will see the attendance of over 10,000 participants.

The 50th anniversary congress of the ERA-EDTA (European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association), gathering the most prominent experts of the medical field, starts today in Istanbul. The three-day event will see the attendance of over 10,000 participants, surgeons and researchers, who will share recent advances and new practices related to nephrology.

The congress will be chaired by Turkish surgeon Gültekin Süleymanlar from Akdeniz University's medical faculty in Antalya, one of the pioneering medical transplant units in Turkey. ERA-EDTA President Raymond Vanholder, from the Belgian University Hospital Ghent, will also give a keynote address.

According to 2010 figures, doctors have performed renal dialysis or kidney transplants on 15,509 patients in Turkey, which is nearly double that of countries such as France or Italy. Turkey spends nearly 1.15 billion euros every year on treatments related to kidney failure.


The Istanbul congress will also focus on ways of preventing renal disease and the risk of kidney failure.