Abstract

This issue of the British Medical Bulletin brings together comprehensive, clear and up-to-date information on the management of renal failure that is not very readily available elsewhere. Hospital physicians at all levels need this information, and this bulletin should be useful to consultant nephrologists as well as to junior medical staff. It would be especially valuable for junior staff about to work on a renal unit or to urological surgeons who work with one. The information is too detailed for the general practitioner unless he happens to have a patient in renal failure on dialysis. However, the bulletin is of limited value in dealing with the problems of individual patients. Half the reviews deal with special problems such as renal failure in the first year of life and in the tropics, and the management of common features such as anaemia and hypertension. The rest discuss dietary management for all stages of renal failure, the dosage of antibiotics (but not of other drugs), special investigations, dialysis and transplantation.