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Tag Archives: Dialysis
Bioartificial Kidney Proof of Concept Completed
We first proposed a method of using dialysis virtually continuously in the late 1970s. Our approach was to employ a small dialyzer and a bioreactor to keep the dialysate clean. It was based upon our development of strains of microbes that degraded urea and creatinine (among other nitrogenous compounds) rapidly. As biochemical engineering evolved, we began examining the use of stem cells. We understood the technology could replace dialysis within a decade or so; we did not understand that politics would preclude that development for some 30 years or more.)
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Bicarbonate Dialysis is better (Dialysis, part 3)
That earlier choice of acetate as the dialysate buffer is now (very early 80’s) becoming a problem. Oh, it was great when dialysis was slow (12 hours) and had “tight” membranes; but, now, with the more efficient membranes and shorter dialysis, the saw-tooth pattern that existed for toxins is now occurring for our blood buffer. During dialysis, the acetate replaces the bicarbonate buffer; after dialysis, the acetate is slowly converted to bicarbonate. Obviously, this is not the best situation for patients.
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Dialysis glimpses, part 2
Now, we have a prepared concentrate solution, but we still have to prepare the flat plate units for each use. A few inventors have begun to improve on the design- a prepackaged flat plate unit (made of plastic and several layers of membranes so the unit is about 1 foot long and not five feet long). And instead of inserting needles into veins each time, a physician-inventor developed a surgical cannula (and improved on that design several times hence).
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Dialysis Glimpses from the 60’s and 70’s
Imagine this scenario. Dialysis as a therapy is just starting to ‘click’. Treatments are available in one of two modalities- coil or flat plate. The coil system (shown below) reminds one of a giant washing machine, with a bathing solution of warm salt water, bubbled carbon dioxide, and a plastic device (looking like a car “air filter”) inserted inside this mess, through which passes your blood. The “air filter” is a membrane that separates the solution from your blood; the impurities from your blood are whisked away by the solution.
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