Post Date December, 03 2023
Research reports that wearable artificial kidneys are expected to replace dialysis machines.
More than 2 million kidney failure patients worldwide require long-term dialysis treatment. Patients receiving dialysis treatment must strictly control their diet to ensure the quality of dialysis.
Research has shown that long-term and high-frequency dialysis therapy has good therapeutic effects, but existing dialysis machines are non portable instruments that limit patients' exercise and daily living activities.
Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb from the University of Washington said, "As a nephrologist, I hope that dialysis therapy can achieve significant improvements in the future - that is, it can improve the quality of life of patients, bring more autonomy and choices for their complete recovery, and extend their lives. To this end, we should do our best to help patients achieve this ideal as soon as possible.
Himmelfarb and colleagues have developed a continuously operational wearable artificial kidney. Early experimental studies have shown that the effective working time of artificial kidneys is 8 hours.
Currently, they have applied the wearable artificial kidney to 11 end-stage kidney disease patients with an average dialysis time of 15 months, and reported the results of their 24-hour treatment testing.
During the normal operation of the instrument, a total of 5 patients completed 24-hour treatment. One patient stopped treatment due to blood clotting in the blood circuit. Two patients need to replace their batteries before the end of the 24-hour study. Three patients underwent treatment interruption during the study period due to clearing blood circuit bubbles.
The researchers reported in the JCIInsight journal that the research experiment was terminated prematurely due to technical issues related to the instrument.
During the period of receiving artificial kidney treatment, the subjects had no serious complications and were able to move freely. The patient stated that wearable artificial kidney has fewer side effects, convenient and flexible treatment, less treatment-related discomfort, and can move freely, overall satisfactory.
Researchers indicate that further design and improvement of the equipment are needed to address technical issues before conducting long-term research.
We hope to conduct follow-up experiments within the next few years, "Dr. Himmelfarb said. Before this instrument can be used for the treatment of kidney disease patients, years of research are needed to prove its effectiveness and safety
Dr. Karin Gerritsen and Dr. Jaapjoles from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands recently conducted a systematic review of the research status of wearable artificial kidneys, Wearable and portable artificial kidneys will soon be implemented, but years of research are still needed before they can be widely used in clinical practice. This instrument is a good choice for daily (nighttime) bedside hemodialysis patients, and its emergence has taken a big step forward compared to the traditional three times a week outpatient hemodialysis
