Hello Steemians... You are welcome to another episode of information packed session. And I do hope that our weekend holidays were spent joyously.

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In this post, I will be taking you through the concept of wearable artificial kidney device meant to alleviate the sufferings and onerous life of patients suffering from end stage kidney disease. If the report published in the Journal of Clinical Investigations from 2015 clinical study is anything to go by, this latest invention dubbed "wearable artificial kidney" that patients on whom it has been tested on have expressed great satisfaction with its ease of use and portability, would be on its way to replacing traditional dialysis machines.

Generally, patients with kidney failure are subjected to dialysis treatment during which toxic wastes and other poisonous biochemicals are removed from the bloodstream. Currently, this can only be performed in some special hospitals because dialysis machine is huge and stationary and also requires much expertise in connecting it to patients' bloodstream. More than this, the more burdensome is the fact that patients would need three sessions in a week to be able to function well metabolically. This makes the whole experience not only tedious but also cumbersome and unpleasant for these patients. Hence, introduction of wearable artificial kidney will really have a huge positive impact on the life of these patients because it will enable them to undergo dialysis session on the move wherever and whenever they deem fit.

In Autumn of 2015, there was clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trial of a prototype device known as Wearable Artificial kidney to commence. The prototype was the brainchild of Dr Victor Gura from Cedar-Sinai Medical Centre, and Chairman of Blood Purifications Technologies in California. Dr Gura was the head of the research team which included Dr Jonathan Himmelfarb, a professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology of University of Washington and Director of the Kidney Research Institute; and Dr Larry Kessler, a professor of Health Services in the Shook of Public Health, University of Washington. The fund for the clinical trial was provided by the US FDA Center for Device and Radiological Health via its Innovation Pathway 2.0 Program.

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The Experimental Procedure

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The trial, which was conducted with seven patients from the University of Washington Medical Centre in Seattle, was aimed at determining the safety and efficacy of the device to take over some functions of failed kidneys. Furthermore, the researchers were also to interview the patients to find out their opinions about the experimental treatment and then compare them with those of the standard dialysis treatment.

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Detailed schematic representation of Dr Gura's wearable artificial kidney device

In the patients studied, it was reported that the device was able to get rid of toxic wastes (which are mainly urea, creatine and phosphorus) from the bloodstream. It also efficiently handled removal of excess water and salt. All these constitute waste products that are removed from the the body by working kidneys. Most striking thing is the fact that unlike traditional hemodialysis where patients' diets are strictly controlled to ensure that electrolytes and blood volumes are in balance at all time, there are no such restrictions on patients using wearable artificial kidneys. And yet, everything was found to be stable with no reported side effects whatsoever.

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The Hiccups

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It was reported, however, that experiment later ran into some minor technical hiccups and had to be stopped after the seventh patient.

These included the excessive formation of carbon dioxide gas bubbles in the dialysis solution, and intermittent variations in solution and blood flow.
These technical complications, according to the researchers report, will need to be addressed through device redesign and refinement to enhance safety and reliability prior to any further, long-term studies of the Wearable Artificial Kidney. Source

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Conclusion

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Researchers in the field of medical science continue to doll out amazing technological innovations to better health challenges faced by humankind. This is highly commendable even though some of these researches have not gotten to a conclusive end.

The fact that there were some teething issues reported during the clinical trial of wearable artificial kidney which would need further studies to be able to be properly addressed, yet it does not change the fact that this study has provided proof of concept that wearable artificial kidney could be developed as a viable alternative dialysis technology to what is obtained presently.

This is clearly shown by great satisfaction expressed by participants at the end of the experiment.

"I was amazed at how well it worked for me. It was heavy and cumbersome, but I'd be wearing it today if I could. It just gives you so much more freedom. Wearable Artificial Kidney earns fast-track status," said one of the patients in the trial, Chuck Lee, in describing his experience in a Nov. 7, 2015, news article. Source.

Thanks for reading.

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References for further reading

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Ref1, Ref2, Ref3

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