The 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy

  • 1 (Fri.) - 3 (Sun.) July, 2022
  • Pacifico Yokohama
  • President: Ken Tsuchiya (Department of Blood Purification, Tokyo Women’s Medical University)
  • Chief of the Secretariat: Norio Hanafusa (Department of Blood Purification, Tokyo Women's Medical University)

Presidential Address

The 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy
President: Ken Tsuchiya
Department of Blood Purification, Tokyo Women’s Medical University
Ken Tsuchiya

The 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT) will be held from Friday, July 1 to Sunday, July 3, 2022 at Pacifico Yokohama, in Minato Mirai, Yokohama City.

The Annual Meeting of the JSDT is a major event that welcomes many highly motivated participants with the goals of improving and maintaining the level of renal replacement therapy. It is my great privilege to host such an important meeting. I am also conscious of the heavy responsibility of ensuring that the meeting is successful and fruitful.

The Annual Meetings have always focused on dialysis medicine per se, but the scope of this meeting is now expanding to encompass modality selection for renal replacement therapy. Pre-dialysis clinics are offered by many facilities so that patients with advanced chronic kidney disease can select the modality most appropriate and beneficial for them. Since last year, cases of patients who have “withdrawn” from dialysis have become a social issue, and the JSDT has published a Proposal for the Shared Decision-Making Process Regarding Initiation and Continuation of Dialysis. As a result, conservative kidney management has become the default clinical practice after the withdrawal of dialysis therapy. The objectives of dialysis medicine include not only the quality of dialysis therapy but also dialysis modality selection, renal failure complications, the aging of the patient population, healthcare economics, thanatology, multidisciplinary team medicine, and community healthcare. Publication of a formal guideline for palliative care in renal failure patients, which is essential for patients withdrawn from dialysis therapy, is under consideration.

These rapid changes are addressed by the theme of the meeting: “Seeking for SDGs in Dialysis Medicine.” The acronym “SDGs” stands for the “sustainable development goals” designated by the United Nations as international goals for sustainable development. I want to apply this concept directly to dialysis medicine. It is my firm conviction that we must change what should be changed for the benefit of patients, while preserving unchanged what should not be changed. I believe that this Annual Meeting should identify the keys to sustainable goals in dialysis medicine and point out a clear path to achieve them.

Artificial intelligence (AI), the other key theme of this Annual Meeting, will become an indispensable aspect of dialysis medicine in future. The meeting will offer wide-ranging sessions that will benefit all the participants, from beginners who want to learn the basic concepts of AI to experts who wish to deepen their knowledge. Please stay tuned for those sessions!

Participants used to enjoy the Annual Meetings for the chance to meet colleagues in person, including informally in the evenings. However, the pandemic has prevented such in-person meetings from being held for the past two years. This imposed a significant burden on the chairpersons and staff of the Annual Meetings held during this time. Thanks to modern communications technology, however, both these two meetings were able to fulfill their purpose as successful Annual Meetings. It is difficult to predict the circumstances under which the 67th Annual Meeting will be held, particularly how it will be affected by the pandemic. We will take every possible measure to ensure that this meeting is optimally beneficial for all participants, and hope this meeting will be equally as successful as the preceding two meetings held during the pandemic.

It is my sincere hope that this meeting will be fruitful and significant for everyone who attends as well as for all patients receiving renal replacement therapy. I greatly appreciate your tremendous support for the success of the 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy.

PAGE TOP

Copyright © The 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy. All Rights Reserved.