[Heart and kidneys].

There is strong interaction between heart and kidneys in human beings. Both organs work together in many regulation mechanisms. Thus, heart failure leads in many cases to renal failure due to hemodynamic or hormonal feed-back mechanisms. Vice versa, chronic kidney disease turned out as a major and independent cardiovascular risk factor. Patients who suffer from both heart disease and chronic kidney disease are threatened from a very high morbidity and mortality. Moreover, the number of affected patients has doubled every 8-10 years--a dramatic trend which is ongoing. In many patients suffering from heart and chronic kidney disease, an under-use of cardiologic diagnostics as well as therapies has to be observed due to fears about adverse effects, which further enhances their worse prognosis.