Technical approaches toward ambulatory ESRD therapy.
Current efforts to prolong dialysis and make it ambulatory may, but need not, follow the established countercurrent contact of blood and dialysate through a membrane. Avoiding anticoagulation and addressing decremented performance of membranes used over long times suggests gentler blood contact and greatly reduced contact areas. This paper describes a microfluidic fluid-to-fluid contact system, still under development, and suggests that initial attempts at ambulatory support of end-stage renal disease patients may be limited to interdialytic volume control, perhaps with a reduced frequency of dialysis which would then be used only to remove accumulated solutes.
Leonard
Edward F
EF
Artificial Organs Research Laboratory, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA.
D015314:Dialysis Solutions; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010531:Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*
D015314:Dialysis Solutions; D008567:Membranes, Artificial