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Patients

The Swiss Society of Nephrology (SSN) is the umbrella organization of Swiss nephrologists and aims to ensure optimal and high quality care for kidney diseases in Switzerland. To ensure the education and training of Swiss nephrologists as well as to promote research of renal diseases and to represent its members towards authorities and other partners in the health care system.
Its activities are financed by membership fees, by the services it provides and by the annual scientific meeting of the SGN.
The Swiss Society of Nephrology is closely linked to several patient associations and to the Swiss Kidney Foundation.

CHOOSE wisely

Five things doctors and patients should consider

Kidney disease can affect anyone

Kidney disease leads to the gradual or sudden loss of the kidney’s excretory and cleansing function. Because people usually notice little or nothing, the damage can progress unnoticed until it is severe and irreversible. High blood pressure, edema or changes in the urine can be early warning signs. In the laboratory, however, the signs of the disease can be detected early.

Kidney replacement

If kidney function has fallen below 1/6 of normal, it must be supported or replaced.
Three main kidney replacement procedures are available: kidney transplantation / abdominal dialysis (peritoneal dialysis) / blood washing (hemodialysis).

Although kidney transplantation is indisputably the best option, it is not feasible for all patients, so thousands of people in Switzerland alone have to be treated permanently with peritoneal or hemodialysis. Living with dialysis severely restricts one’s freedom of life and has to be learned.

It is important

  • that kidney diseases are detected as early as possible, because only then can they be treated in such a way that the damage does not become excessive.
  • that as many patients with severe renal failure as possible are given the opportunity to receive a transplant.


Source: Swiss Kidney Foundation