Regional Symposium (JSTB / Resilience)

Symposium Introduction

This regional symposium, jointly organized by JSTB and TSDT, brings together clinicians and engineers from Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan to examine how nephrology and critical care practice adapt when resources, infrastructure, or circumstances are not ideal. Opening remarks by Prof. Wen-Chin Li set the stage for four sessions that move from acute extracorporeal therapy to long-term environmental risk, and then to the technology and coordination needed to sustain kidney care during disasters. The program is designed for nephrologists, intensivists, and dialysis unit staff seeking a practical, experience-based view of extracorporeal support and disaster preparedness that goes beyond routine outpatient care.

The morning begins with Prof. Do Ngoc Son's account of Vietnam's growing experience with extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO₂R) in acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, highlighting how the therapy's overlap with continuous renal replacement platforms gives nephrologists a natural role in its safe use, even where trained staff and dedicated equipment are limited. Dr. Kai-Fan Tsai then turns to novel renal biomarkers such as KIM-1, interleukin-18, and gelsolin, tracing their value in detecting kidney injury earlier than creatinine alone, and connecting this to research on environmental nephrotoxicity from exposures such as cadmium and organophosphate flame retardants.

After a coffee break, the focus shifts to disaster-oriented renal care. Prof. Kenichi Kokubo discusses how dialysis technology is evolving to serve two very different needs: precise support for unstable ICU patients and portable, infrastructure-independent systems for disaster response, drawing on Japan's earthquake experience. Prof. Takeshi Moriguchi completes the picture with Japan's Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) framework, showing how hospital resilience planning and inter-facility coordination sustain ICU-based renal support when normal infrastructure is disrupted.

Prof. Lung-Chih Li closes the symposium by drawing these threads together, from acute extracorporeal support and biomarker-based risk assessment to the hardware and coordination that keep blood purification available under crisis conditions.