The April Issue of Family Circle had a statement saying: Cedar Sinai Medical Center researchers in Los Angeles are about to begin clinical trials for a 5#
battery operated artificial kidney that provides 24 hrs. dialysis. It is worn on
a belt around the waist. Anyone else seen any articles regarding this?
I suspect this is the product that National Quality Care, Inc. developed and announced last fall that it was going to seek FDA approval for clinical trials in humans. Here’s a press release about it. If you’re interested in finding out more, the doctor’s name is on the press release
That sounds marvelous, I will be the first in line to try it… 
jokingly,
I wonder how heavy it is, dunno if I would wanna carry a bulky heavy device around my waist. If it can be used during sleep just maybe that would be nice…
Article stated the weight was 5 pounds. I’d like to hear some more details on this and if they are going to start trials the details will probably start creeping out.
Me too Marty. First question how do you access the blood stream? I’d be surprised if it is fistula/needles, I’d guess catheter which has it’s own issues. I think we live in interesting times, makes a guy want to hang around to see what will happen next.
Bill, I wonder where the fluid removed goes. For some reason I think this procedure does blood cleaning but you still need some dialysis for fluid removal. But I could be getting 2 separate innovations confused. Your right about 1 thing it is worth hanging around to see what’s next. Seems like the West Coast is always ahead of what’s happening on the East Coast. Must be the sunshine.
Mymymymy, for a device of this kinda design I am certain that to get an efficient ammount of dialysis you’d need to wear this everyday for long periods…it’s like driving a Yugo up a hill…
Yes, Gus the article said its worn 24 hrs.
Eek, I kinda imagine myselg riding a bike with this device strapped to the waistline and red lines coming out from the back to my kneck, I am a cyborg!..
Oh my goodness, they sure are facing some tough challenges…I wonder if the one mentioned for testing at Sinai is different than these…
“Two partially successful wearable kidneys based upon hemofiltration have been devised. One required the patient to drink a liter of dialysate every hour to replace ultra filtrate loss, and the other regenerated the ultra filtrate with a REDY sorbent cartridge. Both had drawbacks, resulting in the patient shifting back to regular intermittent hemodialysis.”
Hi y’all,
Wow, Gus, you and I must have been reading this at the same time!
I got onto PubMed and did a search for the 2 docs mentioned in that linked article (Dr. Mohammed Nabil Aboras, and Dr. Issa Kawalit), figuring that if this type of research was being done, people might be publishing on it. Nothing at all came up for Dr. Kawalit. There weren’t any papers for an M Aboras, either. So, maybe they’re being very cagy because they’re trying to develop something new, maybe those names aren’t spelled correctly, or maybe these folks have never done any published research on any topic–which seems unlikely to me.
The day before the Annual Dialysis Conference in Tampa last Feb., the International Society for Hemodialysis (ISHD) did a free, half-day seminar that had 2 or 3 talks by folks in the process of developing wearable artificial kidneys. For the most part, they seem to be clustered in the Pacific Northwest–the birthplace of dialysis in the U.S. They were taking different approaches to get to the same place, and they were all VERY exciting. So, this technology does seem to be emerging, and maybe within the next few years people really will be able to test it!
The most fascinating comment I heard, IMHO, was the observation that a wearable artificial kidney would take dialysis out of the clinic and put it back in the hands of nephrologists. Interesting, don’t you think? Especially when you consider the nursing shortage, and how the costs of bricks and mortar and staff salaries are so much of where today’s dialysis dollar goes… This would be a whole new model for dialysis delivery. Of course, there’s no way at this point to compare the cost of a wearable kidney, but in terms of “rehab” and the potential to live a full life, it’s certainly intriguing!
Hehe, I won the race!!.. jokingly… :lol:
If that ever happened imagine how frustrated some of the patient care techs will be!.. I remember when I bragged about the new home dialysis machines awhile back, the patient care techs didn’t look quite happy about it…one of them even told me it will never happen and it don’t exist!..today I look back at that same tech with a smile…and say well? Miracles do happen! :lol:
Yes, me too, I was reading the article, wondering, how life would be with a wearable dialysis machine, but I didn’t want to get that excited since we heard that rumors before and nothing happened.
I would love to get hold of those doctors, but I don’t know how.
I hope this is real, because i did look up the Pubmed search for the authers and found :
1: Safar ME, London GM, Levenson JA, Kheder MA, Aboras NE, Simon AC. Related Articles, Links
Effect of alpha-methyldopa on cardiac output in hypertension.
Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1979 Mar;25(3):266-72.
PMID: 761439 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2: Blancher JF, Ben-Mais H, Simon A, Aboras N, Kheder A, Safar M. Related Articles, Links
[Electrocardiographic evolution of severe medically treated hypertension]
Arch Mal Coeur Vaiss. 1979 Mar;72(3):296-300. French.
PMID: 158350 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: Simon AC, Safar ME, Levenson JA, Aboras NE, Alexandre JM, Pauleau NF. Related Articles, Links
Extracellular fluid volume and renal indices in essential hypertension.
Clin Exp Hypertens. 1979;1(5):557-76.
PMID: 533674 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4: Safar M, Simon A, Tzincoca C, Aboras N, Milliez P. Related Articles, Links
[Borderline hypertension. Physiopathological mechanisms (author’s transl)]
Ann Cardiol Angeiol (Paris). 1979 Jan-Feb;28(1):31-4. French. No abstract available.
PMID: 434756 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5: Simon A, Safar M, Aboras N, Kheder A, Levenson J, Milliez P. Related Articles, Links
[Essential hypertension: long term haemodynamic effects of a diuretic combination (cyclothiazide-triamterene) (author’s transl)]
Nouv Presse Med. 1978 Feb 4;7(5):349-50. French.
PMID: 345232 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6: Roland EQ, Safar ME, Lelguen CE, Aboras NE, Weiss YA, Milliez PM. Related Articles, Links
Effect of certain antiadrenergic agents on systolic time intervals in essential hypertension.
Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 1977 Jul 19;11(6):423-7.
PMID: 891585 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
7: Weiss YA, Safar ME, Aboras N, Simon AC, Milliez P. Related Articles, Links
[Problems in practical management of essential hypertension]
Nouv Presse Med. 1977 May 21;6(21):1833-6. French.
PMID: 876829 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
8: Weiss YA, Safar ME, Aboras N, Simon AC, Milliez PL. Related Articles, Links
[Essential arterial hypertension: problems of practical management]
Acquis Med Recent. 1977;:201-6. French. No abstract available.
Hi Manuel, welcome to Home Dialysis Central–I don’t think I’ve seen you post before?
You’re correct that there was an NE Aboras who published several articles on essential hypertension in the '70s, but I don’t believe that’s the same doc, because the initials are wrong. This one should be M or MN, and there wasn’t one of those.
But, as I said, I heard presentations BY folks who really ARE developing this technology right now (not to say that the others aren’t, just that we couldn’t find anything else they’d done and published on). And what I didn’t mention before is that some of these devices are expected to be SMALLER THAN A QUARTER. I couldn’t tell you HOW they work, but they sure look cool.
In the meantime, I truly believe that home dialysis of any sort is the best option right now for having flexibility and control over your life, feeling your best physically, and having the least limited diet and fluids. 
can you tell me more about folks??
Oops, sorry to spell your name wrong.
The companies who presented at the International Society for Hemodialysis (ISHD) seminar included Home Dialysis Plus from Portland, OR, Biophiltre LLC, in Burlingame, CA, and the Institute of Medical Science at Tokai University in Japan.
Are these presenters machine companies? Please provide more info. I have heard of Dialysis Plus, but have not read anything in depth.