The early days of nephrology in Colombia.

摘要

In 1951, Dr Jaime Borrero Ramirez, an intern in medicine at the old Hospital San Vincente de Paul in Medellin, Colombia, was attending rounds with his professor. They stopped by the bed of a patient exhibiting signs of advanced kidney disease, including uremic frost. In Colombia, in those early years, there was no treatment for this disease. It was only in 1950 that renal biopsies had first been performed in Cali by the Bolivian urologist Lupi Mendoza. That patient examined by Dr Borrero ultimately died. The findings on autopsy revealed sclerotic kidneys and dilated tubules.The plight of such a patient was so disturbing to Dr Borrero that he decided to make the study of renal disease his life's work. He became an eminent nephrologist and, as is detailed below, served from 1970 to 1972 as the second president of the Colombian Society of Nephrology.