Abstract
This chapter is mainly focused on the engineering aspects of the design of the dialysis systems. After a short overview of the functions and pathologies of the renal system, aimed at defining the medical requirements of the artificial devices, a summary of the historical development of the artificial kidney is reported. Subsequently, the different implementations of membrane separation operations in renal replacement therapies, as well as the characteristics of the membrane modules used, are reported. On the basis of this information, mathematical models are then developed to describe the behaviour of these systems and optimize their design. Patient-device models are also considered to predict the evolution in time of toxin levels in patient blood and optimize the dialysis protocol. The chapter ends with a survey on the latest technological developments in terms of portable or wearable devices as well as on bio-artificial devices aimed at best replacing the functions of natural kidneys.
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Notes
- 1.
This and the following section were authored by Sergio Morini—Center for Integrated Biomedical Research (CIR), University “Campus Bio-Medico” of Rome, Italy.
- 2.
A small secretion of creatinine in proximal tubule occurs, and this affects the evaluation of the GFR.
- 3.
In medical literature, the sieving coefficient \(\mathscr {S}=1-\sigma \) is also used. Therefore, for an unhindered solute \(\mathscr {S}=1\), while for a component completely rejected \(\mathscr {S}=0\).
- 4.
It is worth noting that \(\mathrm {CL}_{0}\) and \(\mathrm {DL}_{0}\) are different from the clearance and dialysance obtained with the same device in the absence of ultrafiltration.
- 5.
The term “sorbent dialysis” is widely used in the literature; as it is reported below, it must be pointed out that regeneration is not exclusively carried out by sorption processes.
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© 2017 Springer-Verlag London
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Annesini, M.C., Marrelli, L., Piemonte, V., Turchetti, L. (2017). Artificial Kidney. In: Artificial Organ Engineering. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6443-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6443-2_7
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Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-6442-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-6443-2
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