History of nephrology and renal replacement therapy in Korea

Korea has a long tradition of Eastern (Korean) medicine. Modern nephrology in Korea began in the 20th century after the Second World War. The first nephrology report was presented in 1949 at the third annual meeting of the Korean Society of Internal Medicine. The first hemodialysis was performed in 1952 during the Korean War, the first acute peritoneal dialysis in 1957, the first kidney biopsy in 1959, the first kidney transplantation in 1969 and the first continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in 1981. National Health Insurance was launched in 1976 with a limited coverage, which was gradually expanded to cover all Korean nationals in 1989. The Korean Society of Nephrology (KSN) was inaugurated in 1980. The KSN End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Registry was started in 1985. Brain death legislation was enacted, and the Korean network for organ sharing launched in 2000. During 2009, a total of 8,906 patients or 175.9 patients per million population (PMP) began renal replacement therapy (RRT), and at the end of the year a total of 56,396 patients or 1,113.6 patients PMP were on RRT in Korea. The prevalence of ESRD continues to grow in Korea while its incidence is stable or declining as compared with the previous year.