Professor Dr. med. Jürgen Flöge

Prof. Dr. med. J. Flöge | Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Flöge has headed the Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen, part of RWTH Aachen University, since 1999.
The professor gained his international reputation through his leadership roles in nephrology societies and through his work as an editor and author of leading journals and textbooks on nephrology, rheumatology and the treatment of difficult-to-control hypertension.

In May 2019, Professor Jürgen Flöge was elected Chairman of the German Society of Internal Medicine.

On 24 May 2018, the European Renal Association — European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) announced that Prof. Dr. med. J. Flöge had been given its annual award for outstanding clinical achievements in nephrology.

The ERA-EDTA presents this award every year for outstanding scientific accomplishments in clinical nephrology. The award ceremony took place on 24 May 2018 during the nephrology congress in Copenhagen. Professor Flöge's scientific interests are remarkably wide-ranging. They include both basic research into growth factors, cytokines, stem cell therapy, angiogenesis and the progression of kidney disease, and clinical research into immunological kidney diseases and systemic diseases involving the kidneys (e.g. vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus). The professor is also a world-renowned authority on the treatment of cardiorenal syndrome. Together with Prof. Dr. med. N. Marx, head of the clinical department of cardiology, pneumology, angiology and intensive care medicine at the University Hospital in Aachen, in 2013 he opened the world's first cardio-nephrology unit. Both professors are also members of the steering committee of the interdisciplinary research centre TRR219 «heart–kidney».

His range of activities includes:

• autoimmune and chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases of the musculoskeletal system (for example, rheumatoid arthritis)
• rheumatic soft tissue diseases (for example, in fibromyalgia)
  metabolic disorders that lead to rheumatic diseases (for example, gout)
• bone diseases that affect the spine (for example, in osteoporosis)
• age-related rheumatic diseases (for example, degenerative diseases of the spine).

Professor Flöge is a long-standing member of various societies devoted to the treatment of rheumatic diseases, including the oldest and highly respected physicians' association, the Rheuma-Liga (the European League Against Rheumatism). As part of his work with the German Society for Rheumatology, Prof. Flöge supervises a number of international projects on the development of new medicines and therapeutic techniques, their clinical trials and their launch on the pharmaceutical market.

Professor Flöge has vast experience in treating rheumatological diseases, in particular psoriatic arthritis: under his leadership new inhibitor drugs have been developed that are able to suppress the activity of cytokines, which makes it possible to slow down local inflam­matory reactions.

Under Prof. Flöge's leadership, the clinical department carries out diagnostics of rheumatic diseases including extended laboratory testing, X-ray imaging of the skeleton and joints, skin biopsy and synovial fluid biopsy, which is particularly important when psoriatic arthritis is suspected, as this condition shows practically no symptoms in its early stages. Comprehensive diagnostics also include consultations with a dermatologist-immunologist and a cardiologist

Depending on the individual case, treatment of psoriatic arthritis in Germany may take the following forms:

Drug therapy

• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
• glucocorticosteroids (intra-articular injection is possible);
• antirheumatic drugs;
• tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors (they act on inflammatory rheumatic processes at cell level);
• topical therapy with ointments and creams;
• immunosuppressive therapy.

Physiotherapeutic treatment

• PUVA therapy (photochemotherapy, which involves taking a photosensitising drug orally followed by external UV irradiation);
• magnetotherapy;
• laser therapy;
• electrophoresis;
• phonophoresis;
• therapeutic exercise;
• phototherapy;
• extracorporeal blood purification;
• occupational therapy;
• massage;
• fango (mud therapy);
• diet therapy.

Professor Flöge's achievements have been recognised with many international awards; he is a member of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), an honorary member of the Japanese Society of Nephrology and a member of the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA).

Professor Flöge was one of the founders of the German Society of Nephrology, serving as its vice-president from 2008 and as its president from 2013. Professor Flöge is a member of the German Professional Association of Internists (BDI) and of the professional association of physicians of nephrology centres (DN e.V.). Since 2016, Prof. J. Flöge has been an honorary foreign member of the Japanese Society of Nephrology. In May 2017, Prof. J. Flöge was elected deputy chairman of the German Society of Internal Medicine. Since 2014, Focus magazine has included him every year in its ranking of the best nephrologists in Germany. Under Professor Flöge's leadership, the Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen became the third certified kidney transplant centre in Germany.

Professor Flöge is the author of some 500 original articles, 180 reviews and editorials and 40 chapters in various scientific publications. He is also an author of the textbook «Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology». He is one of the founders and a former chairman of the German Society of Nephrology (DGfN), honorary chairman of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) and currently a member of the Executive Committee for nephrology guideline development (KDIGO). He is a co-author of the monumental textbook «Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology» and takes part in national and international congresses of nephrologists and rheumatologists.

Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen, headed by Professor J. Flöge, treats chronic renal failure, glomerular and interstitial kidney disease and also provides nutritional care in kidney disease. The treatment of difficult-to-control hypertension, which may originate in the kidneys, is likewise part of the department's range of therapeutic services.

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen became the third certified kidney transplant centre in Germany. The department is at the same time a certified centre for the treatment of hypertension. During an audit of the department's work, the special commission of the German Society of Nephrology judged the cooperation between the interdisciplinary team of nephrologists and surgeons of the Aachen University Hospital complex — covering preparation for kidney transplantation, the transplantation itself and postoperative patient follow-up — to be exemplary. Each year the department treats up to 1,500 patients diagnosed with renal failure. At present, 150 people are on the «waiting list» for a kidney transplant. Over the past few years, 78 kidney transplant operations have been performed at the hospital, 24 of them from living donors.

Every year the department helps 12,000 patients with controllable hypertension as well as with rare, secondary forms of hypertension and with renal failure.

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen also offers additional diagnostics and treatment of haematuria, albuminuria and proteinuria. Urolithiasis is treated in close interdisciplinary cooperation with urology experts.

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases also deals with pregnancy complications related to impaired kidney function or hypertension, as well as with the treatment of conditions such as glomerulonephritis and interstitial nephritis, which are investigated by kidney biopsy under ultrasound or CT guidance, and with hereditary glomerulonephritis, rheumatic diseases, vasculitis, Wegener's disease and Goodpasture's syndrome.

Disorders of fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance, which can take complex forms, are also part of the department's range of medical services.

Dialysis plays a particularly important role in the work of the Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases: the so-called «artificial kidneys», all methods of haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, continuous haemofiltration, as well as plasmapheresis, rheopheresis and immunoadsorption.

The department specialises in:

• treatment of all internal medicine conditions, in particular all forms of hypertension, as well as kidney, rheumatological and immunological diseases;
• diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the veins, lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes;
• treatment of the full spectrum of rheumatological and immunological diseases, in particular with immunosuppressants, plasmapheresis, cryofiltration and cascade plasma filtration;
• diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases;
• treatment of blood poisoning (sepsis);
• treatment of endocrine disorders, in particular of the adrenal glands, kidneys and parathyroid glands;
• late complications of diabetes mellitus (diabetic nephropathy);
  medical follow-up before and after kidney transplantation ;
• metabolic bone disorders;
• diagnosis and treatment of congenital and acquired diseases of the immune system (including HIV infection and AIDS);
• machine-based treatment of acute and chronic renal failure (>1000 acute dialysis cases per year);
• renal replacement therapy: haemodialysis, haemofiltration, haemodiafiltration, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), continuous cyclic
• peritoneal dialysis (CCPD), citrate haemodialysis and citrate haemofiltration;
• kidney transplantation (in cooperation with the urology department);
• intensive care medicine, including machine-based treatment of exogenous and endogenous poisoning, haemoperfusion, continuous veno-venous haemofiltration and respiratory therapy;
• interdisciplinary Shunt Centre;
• interdisciplinary cardio-nephrology Centre;
• round-the-clock emergency nephrology care.

Facts and figures

Dialysis centre with 12 places for inpatients and day patients,
> 16,000 outpatients and day patients per year;
> 2,000 continuous veno-venous haemofiltration procedures;
> 300 plasmapheresis procedures per year;
> 200 immunoadsorption procedures per year;
> 100 kidney biopsy procedures per year;
> 6,000 ultrasound examinations per year, including approx. 600 Doppler ultrasound examinations of the renal arteries;
> 200 inpatient cases of acute renal failure.

Range of diagnostic services:

• diagnosis of glomerular and tubular diseases;
• laboratory tests;
• all functional tests of the kidneys and endocrine glands;
• ultrasound of the kidneys, adrenal glands and other pelvic organs;
• kidney stone analysis;
• sonography, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS);
• Doppler and duplex ultrasound;
• uroradiology;
• bone scintigraphy;
• renal scintigraphy;
• CT;
• PET-CT;
• MRI;
• digital subtraction angiography (DSA);
• angiography;
• video urodynamic examination, uroflowmetry, cystometry, urethral pressure profilometry, measurement of urine flow rate;
• urological follow-up examinations after kidney transplantation;
• early cancer detection and postoperative medical care;
  kidney biopsy;
• synovial fluid biopsy;
  skin biopsy.

Range of therapeutic services:

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen specialises in the treatment of autoimmune diseases:

• reactive arthritis;
  
• ankylosing spondylitis (Bechterew's disease);
  
• other spondyloarthritides;
  
• gout;
  
• chondrocalcinosis;
  
• infectious arthritis;
  
• osteoarthritis;
  
• juvenile arthritis;
• rheumatoid arthritis;
  
• psoriatic arthritis;
  
• systemic lupus erythematosus;
• mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD);
• antiphospholipid syndrome;
• scleroderma;
• Sjögren's disease (syndrome);
• dermatomyositis;
• Horton's disease / polymyalgia;
• Takayasu's arteritis;
• Wegener's disease;
• polyarteritis nodosa;
• granulomatosis (Churg — Strauss syndrome);
• cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis;
• Schönlein's disease;
• Behçet's disease;
• Ormond's disease;
• thromboangiitis obliterans (Winiwarter-Buerger disease);
• urticarial vasculitis;
• periarthritis;
  
• enthesitis;
  
• enthesopathy;
  
• tendinitis;
  
• tenosynovitis.

as well as

• treatment of chronic renal failure;
• treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia;
• treatment of glomerular and interstitial kidney disease;
• treatment of diabetic nephropathy and renovascular arterial hypertension;
• immunological and oncological kidney diseases;
• treatment of difficult-to-control hypertension;
• treatment of diabetes in patients with renal failure;
• modern dialysis methods;
• placement of a shunt for haemodialysis;
• all methods of haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, as well as continuous haemofiltration;
• plasmapheresis, rheopheresis and immunoadsorption:
• nutritional counselling for kidney disease, kidney stone disease and nephrotic syndrome;
• treatment of electrolyte imbalance;
• treatment of acid-base imbalance;
• paediatric nephrology and urology;
• treatment of metabolic diseases;
• kidney transplantation ─ therapy before and after;
• treatment of arterial hypertension;
• nephrectomy and organ-preserving surgery to remove kidney tumours;
• surgery on the adrenal glands for benign and malignant tumours;
• therapy for renal failure and kidney involvement in systemic diseases,
• including chemotherapy, extracorporeal plasma separation and immunoadsorption;
• kidney treatment by shunting of the central renal veins and by peritoneal dialysis catheter.

The Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hypertension and Immunological Diseases at the University Hospital in Aachen enjoys an excellent reputation among both German and international patients.

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