Nephrology

The Department of Nephrology of Peking University Third Hospital was established in 1988. After 30 years of effort, it has developed into a specialized department with a full range of specialties, advanced technology, comprehensive facilities, all-round development in medical care, teaching, and research, a complete talent pipeline, a high academic level and advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies, and a high reputation nationwide. The department has 9 chief physicians/professors, 7 associate chief physicians, 5 attending physicians, and 4 resident physicians, all of whom hold doctoral degrees; 57 nurses, 1 chief nurse, 1 associate chief nurse, and 12 nurses in charge; 2 nutritionists and 3 technicians. Clinically, it focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of common kidney diseases and critically ill and difficult renal diseases. It has gradually developed distinctive programs in membranous nephropathy, IgA nephropathy, diabetic nephropathy, genetic blocking of polycystic kidney disease, pregnancy-related nephropathy, and others. It can provide all types of blood purification treatment, and the scale and quality of its peritoneal dialysis are leading nationwide. In teaching, it has 1 doctoral supervisor, 2 master's supervisors, and several lecturers, and maintains a high level in teaching undergraduates, graduate students, residents undergoing standardized training, and physicians receiving further training. It has supervised 23 doctoral students and 19 master's students through graduation. In research, it emphasizes conducting joint clinical and basic research with the School (Department) of Basic Sciences of Peking University Health Science Center, and has achieved a series of innovative results in areas including the involvement of local renal-tissue immunity in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy and research on the pathogenesis of membranous nephropathy.

Since 1990, the Department of Nephrology of Peking University Third Hospital has taken the lead in China in performing B-mode ultrasound-guided renal biopsy. More than 5,000 renal biopsies have been performed cumulatively, and a clinicopathological discussion is conducted for every patient with kidney disease who undergoes renal biopsy. It has accumulated extensive clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of various difficult and critically ill kidney diseases, such as acute renal failure and primary and secondary glomerulonephritis, including membranous nephropathy, IgA nephropathy, hypertensive kidney damage, diabetic nephropathy, severe lupus nephritis, severe small-vessel vasculitis, and pregnancy-related nephropathy, among others, and is at an advanced level nationally.

The Department of Nephrology is one of the earlier units in Beijing to provide peritoneal dialysis and is a Ministry of Health Demonstration Center for Peritoneal Dialysis Training. More than 300 patients at the hospital receive maintenance peritoneal dialysis, making it one of the largest peritoneal dialysis centers in the country. Responsibility-based outpatient management is a major feature of the peritoneal dialysis center. It emphasizes nutritional assessment and nutritional guidance for patients, while also placing great importance on educating patients in self-management and encouraging them to participate in the treatment of their disease.

The Blood Purification Center of Peking University Third Hospital was established at the beginning of the Department of Nephrology. It currently has 85 hemodialysis machines and 5 CRRT machines, and provides various blood purification treatments, including hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration, hemoperfusion, plasma exchange, immunoadsorption, blood lipid purification, bilirubin adsorption, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), and leukocyte adsorption. There are currently more than 300 patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis, and more than 30 have been undergoing dialysis for over 10 years. Our work has rekindled the hope of life for numerous patients with uremia, and together we will create a bright future.

In April 2006, the Department of Nephrology of Peking University Third Hospital established the first chronic kidney disease management outpatient clinic in China. It adopts an advanced management model with Chinese characteristics, establishes comprehensive clinical information records and a long-term follow-up system for patients with chronic kidney disease, emphasizes continuity of diagnosis and treatment as well as education in disease-related knowledge and self-management skills, and emphasizes nutritional assessment and nutritional guidance for patients. It encourages and guides patients to change their lifestyles, limit salt and follow a reasonable protein diet, avoid factors that can cause deterioration of renal function, use medications rationally, and receive standardized diagnosis and treatment, so as to curb disease progression to the greatest extent. It also initiates rehabilitation plans for patients with kidney disease so that they can return to society. We are committed to communicating and interacting with patients throughout China through various forms of patient education, such as outpatient follow-up, online and offline health education lectures, a WeChat official account, and the nephrology website, in the hope of helping patients with chronic kidney disease become experts in managing their own disease.

The Department of Nephrology has always been committed to the comprehensive development of medical care, teaching, and research. Through the joint efforts of all department staff, we hope to bring a better quality of life and disease prognosis to patients with chronic kidney disease, enabling kidney disease patients to understand their treatment clearly and live healthy lives.