Feasibility of an artificial implantable kidney

Loss of renal (kidney) function can be replaced by an artificial kidney, although this treatment requires the patient to be attached to an external machine (dialysis machine) by means of surgically implanted connectors. In order to improve the quality of life of many dialysis treatments, improvements to current dialysis therapies must first be made. One suggested advance is an artificial kidney implant based on microtechnology. Although many of the components found within a dialysis machine, such as pumps and related tubing, can be easily reduced in size by the substitution of microtechnology, the active unit of the machine - the hemodialyzer - is subject to certain constraints. These constraints limit the size and efficiency of the dialyser, and in order to optimize the design certain topics, such as oscillating fluid flow, micro fluid flow, dialyser design and the diffusion process, require investigation. These topics are examined in experimental and review programs to determines their effect upon the efficiency of the hemodialyzer. The results of the programs completed so far are presented and discussed, with conclusions drawn for future work.