No, you cannot go out and buy one today
and it will be several years until this device may be available.
This is still exciting news for those with kidney problems and will
be news until the device is on the market. The artificial kidney is
a promising device that will help many people that are unable to find
a donor kidney and rely on dialysis. Researchers report that the
experimental wearable artificial kidney shows promise as a substitute
for dialysis.
The article states that more than 2
million people worldwide with kidney failure require chronic
dialysis. These people must follow strict limitations in what they
eat and drink.
The current dialysis machines are
stationary and they limit what patients are able to do while having
dialysis.
Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb from the
University of Washington in Seattle told Reuters Health that, “As
a physician who cares for patients with kidney disease, it is my hope
that in the future we have something better to offer than we do today
for dialysis therapy.” He would like to see “a treatment
that can enhance quality of life, allow for more autonomy and
opportunity for full rehabilitation, and possibly to extend life as
well, compared to today’s available therapeutic options.” “We
owe it to our patients to do everything we can to make this a
reality,” Himmelfarb said by email.
Dr. Himmelfarb and his colleagues
created a continuously operating wearable artificial kidney that was
effective in earlier pilot studies where treatment was limited to 8
hours.
Now they
report the results of a 24-hour test of the wearable artificial
kidney in 11 patients with end-stage kidney disease who had been on
dialysis for an average of 15 months. Five patients completed the
planned 24-hour treatment period, during which the device performed
as expected.
In this
trial, there were challenges. One patient had to stop treatment
because of clotting of the blood circuit. In two patients, the
machines needed new batteries before the end of the 24 hours. Three
patients had to interrupt treatment to have gas bubbles removed from
the blood circuit. Because of a variety of device-related technical
problems, the trial was stopped early, the authors reported in JCI Insight.
There were no serious complications,
and all subjects were able to walk around freely while receiving
artificial kidney treatment. The patients reported satisfaction with
the few side effects, the convenience and flexibility of treatment,
the discomfort associated with treatment, and the freedom allowed by
the wearable artificial kidney. The researchers say the technical
problems will need to be addressed through device redesign and
refinement before further long-term studies can be done.
“We would hope to be able to
conduct a follow-up trial beginning sometime in the next several
years,” Dr. Himmelfarb said. “It will be a number of years
before such a treatment can be proven safe and effective, and be
readily available to patients living with kidney disease.”
Dr. Karin Gerritsen and Dr. Jaap Joles
from University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands, who
recently reviewed the current status of wearable kidney development,
told Reuters Health by email, "Wearable and portable
artificial kidneys are certainly on the horizon, but it will still
take a few years before they become widely available.”
“The device may be a very good
alternative for daily (nighttime) hemodialysis while operating in a
bedside mode,” they said. “This would already be a great
step forward compared to conventional in-(clinic) hemodialysis three
times a week.”
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