Nephrology, from Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós), meaning "kidney", and λόγος (lógos), meaning "study", is a specialty 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.
Nephrology also studies systemic conditions that affect the kidneys, such as diabetes and autoimmune disease; and systemic diseases that occur as a result of kidney disease, such as renal osteodystrophy and hypertension. A physician who has undertaken additional training and become certified in nephrology is called a nephrologist.
