Can we ameliorate quality of life in chronic kidney disease? The nephrologist's point of view.

Despite admirable technical progress in dialysis procedure, rehabilitation of dialysis patients is far from optimal, in part because of deficiencies in the dialysis modality, in part because of the limited access to kidney transplantation, which is a superior method of treatment, and in part because of demographic reasons, particularly the ageing of the dialysis population. Chronic dialysis treatment creates a particular "microcosmos" in which interpersonal relations and psychological problems carry particular weight.