KDIGO convened a Controversies Conference on Gitelman Syndrome from February 12-13, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. Gitelman syndrome (GS) is a salt-losing tubulopathy characterized by hypokalemic alkalosis with hypomagnesemia and hypocalciuria. Although GS adversely affects the quality of life, we lack information about the long-term outcome of these patients. Further efforts are needed to substantiate a number of issues related to the disease. The objective of this KDIGO conference was to gather a global panel of multi-disciplinary clinical and scientific expertise to address issues including: the diagnostic criteria and methods; the clinical work-up and follow-up; the phenotype heterogeneity in terms of age at presentation; nature/severity of the biochemical abnormalities and clinical manifestations; and the treatment and long-term consequences of the disease. Since GS is associated with impaired quality of life, practical issues related to its management and patient support are particularly relevant. The conference also summarized outstanding knowledge gaps and proposed a research agenda to resolve standing controversial issues. It is hoped that the deliberations from this conference will inform clinicians of the evidence base for present treatment options and help pave the way for future studies in this area.

Drs. Olivier Devuyst (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Nine V.A.M. Knoers (University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands) co-chaired this conference.