Dieter Falkenhagen (1942-2015): a multifaceted scientist.

Dieter Falkenhagen was born in 1942 in Dresden, Germany and died in 2015. He specialized in internal medicine and nephrology. Focusing on artificial organ research, he investigated various aspects of the efficacy and safety of hemodialysis and adsorption technologies, including biocompatibility issues related to blood versus surface interactions and the adverse effects of endotoxin contamination.

20 years since the establishment of the BANTAO association (Balkan Cities Association of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs).

Unlabelled: The Balkan Cities Association of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs (BANTAO) was born in Ohrid on October 9, 1993. The war in former Yugoslavia negatively affected the development of nephrology and also the connections among the nephrologists from the Balkans. However, there was willingness for further mutual collaboration between the nephrologists from the Balkans.

Health is wealth! Is wealth health?

Current demographic analyses of the world population show a considerable increase in life expectancy of the general population in nearly all regions of the world. Consequently, "Health Economy", defined as "Provision and marketing of goods and services in order to support the maintenance and restoration of health", has become the megatrend of the millenium. This holds true not only for national economies and GDPs, but also - in qualitative terms - for the elderly generation.

Survival of patients on maintenance haemodialysis over a twenty-year period.

Patient survival is a key index of the overall adequacy of treatment in most chronic diseases. Analyses of survival of patients undergoing haemodialysis is very important, as it may offer clues and ideas for prolonging survival of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The aims of this study were to describe the characteristics of the patients on maintenance haemodialysis therapy over a period of 20 years, to determine the survival rate of these patients according to ages at the onset of haemodialysis, the primary renal diseases, and the cause of death, and to determine the survival rate at five, ten, fifteen and twenty years of haemodialysis treatment at our centre.