What is Nephrology and Its Importance?

Nephrology (from Ancient Greek nephros 'kidney' and -logy 'the study of') is a speciality for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy (dialysis and kidney transplantation).

The word "renal" is an adjective meaning "relating to the kidneys", and its roots are French or late Latin.

Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" and "nephro" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney medicine" (instead of nephrology) or "kidney replacement therapy", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal and nephro as appropriate including in "nephrology" and "renal replacement therapy", respectively.