This conference was designed to:

(1) develop a simple, clinically relevant, and internationally acceptable definition and classification system,

(2) develop a consensus for bone biopsy evaluation and classification, and

(3) evaluate laboratory and imaging markers for the clinical assessment of patients with CKD.

The conference was attended by more than 70 physicians with expertise in bone and mineral metabolism, representing 6 continents and 21 countries. There were a number of important recommendations pertaining to the nomenclature and criteria used to classify mineral and bone disorders in CKD that evolved from the deliberations and will be presented in a published position statement manuscript in 2006. A principal recommendation from the conference was that the current descriptive terminology for mineral and bone abnormalities in CKD be refined. Specifically, the term renal osteodystrophy (ROD) should be used when the abnormality has been evaluated and classified with bone biopsy. The many clinical, biochemical, and imaging abnormalities that have heretofore been identified as correlates of renal osteodystrophy should be defined more broadly as a syndrome or systemic disorder to be called Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD).