Jack Fairweather - Clinical Companion in Nephrology

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

It is a pleasure to produce our second edition of thisClinical Companion in Nephrology.

In 2015, we published edition one, a handbook for medical students and junior doctors aiming to demystify the nuances of renal medicine and provide an accessible knowledge base in clinical nephrology. Our feedback from edition one was clearshort, simple and easy-to-grasp explanations of common renal conditions were essential. The use of diagrams could not be underestimated, and the traditional ward-round teaching style of clinically relevant questions and answers was a positive. Using our readers feedback we have strived to improve this latest edition.

Firstly, we have maintained our original format of questions and answers, progressing from clinically applied anatomy and physiology through presentations of renal disease including haematuria, proteinuria and electrolyte disorders to more complex renal conditions. Much of the book remains devoted to AKI and CKD as the topics commonly managed by general physicians. We include a part on miscellaneous renal disease, covering topics from renal stone disease to pregnancy, and we have introduced additional chapters on the effect of renal disease on drugs and the effect of drugs on renal disease, in response to feedback. We devote a part to renal replacement therapy in a way that we hope will make clearer to non-nephrologists exactly what goes on inside dialysis and transplant units, and now discuss the role of dialysis in poisoning. As a concluding chapter, we introduce another new part, Practical Nephrology, where we explore the practical skills of nephrology, ranging from urinalysis to renal biopsy. And in response to the bewildered stares of medical students and junior doctors at biopsy meetings, we unveil our beginners guide to interpreting renal histopathology, Spotting the Glomerulus: Basics in Biopsy Interpretation. For this particular chapter, we are grateful for David Kipgens input.

Each chapter is now preceded with a best of five question, a format adopted by undergraduate and Royal College examinations where a clinical vignette is followed by five plausible answers, of which only one is the best option. This provides the reader with a bank of 50 questions over this book. Finally, to appeal to our visual learners, we have increased the number and altered the style of diagrams to mimic classroom notes.

Finally, we dedicate this work to our wives, Luisa, Maytal and Karen, for their tolerance and patience during the many evenings we spent drafting and redrafting this book. Again.