This volume contains papers and discussions of the Vlth Dialyse-Arzte Workshop, which was held in Bernried at Lake Starnberg near Munich the 5th and 6th of March 1980. Generous- ly sponsored by Travenol, Munich, the Dialyse-Arzte meetings now have a tradition spanning 16 years. According to the con- stitution of these meetings, the topics of earlier years had to cover dialysis and related fields. Thus the sponsor requested that this year also one lecture - incorporated here as part - should deal with the state of art of dialysis, thereby hopefully linking this Workshop to the previous...