Research trial at UW could replace traditional kidney dialysis
Apr 9, 2012, 6:05 PM | Updated: 7:20 pm
The inventor of the wearable artificial kidney, Dr. Victor Gura, shows a prototype on a young woman. The device is worn on belt around the waist and designed to spare patients of several hours hooked to a dialysis machine each week. (Image courtesy Dr. Victor Gura; the University of Washington)
(Image courtesy Dr. Victor Gura; the University of Washington)
The University of Washington will be part of the first trial for a wearable, artificial kidney to improve the quality of life for people with the worst kind of kidney disease.
The 10-pound, battery-powered device is designed for end-stage kidney patients, who would benefit the most from additional dialysis away from a clinic or hospital.
The device is worn on belt around the waist and designed to spare patients of several hours hooked to a dialysis machine each week.
Dr. Johnathan Himmelfarb, a professor of medicine and the director of the kidney research institute at UW hopes that by removing some of the waste products involved in kidney failure, patients will benefit. “People would actually feel better with this type of dialysis than with conventional dialysis.”
Himmelfarb calls it a potential “win-win” situation. “Where [dialysis patients] could live longer potentially, and also have a better quality of life.”
A better quality of life might even include setting up their dialysis at home where they are ambulatory and even one day going to work while still wearing the device.
But that, Himmelfarb says, is a ways down the road.
The trial is part of a collaboration between the Food and Drug Administration and university researchers, an effort to speed up the evaluation of promising medical devices.
