Nephrology in Portugal

The first haemodialysis treatment was performed in Lisbon, in 1958, with a Kolff rotating apparatus in a woman with acute renal failure following a transfusion haemolysis. Sixty years later, Portuguese end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are treated in 124 haemodialysis units, 25 peritoneal dialysis units and 9 renal transplant centres with a good geographical coverage of the whole country.