This article is from in the September 2007 issue of DOTmed Business News. A list of registered users that provide sales & service can be found at the end.

Did you know that Albert Einstein played an indispensable role in the development of hemodialysis, the process by which a machine performs the function of failing kidneys?

The history of hemodialysis dates to the 1830s, when Scottish chemist Thomas Graham, known as the Father of Dialysis, used osmosis to separate dissolved substances and remove water through semi-permeable membranes, although he did not apply the method to medicine. In 1855, German physiologist Adolf Fick published a quantitative description of the diffusion process. Through their observations, Graham and Fick discovered the underlying principles of dialysis. But their theories were not turned into practice until Albert Einstein defined diffusion laws thermodynamically as related to molecular motion. In so doing he established a solid scientific basis for dialysis.
The first dialysis procedure was performed on animals in 1913 using a vividiffusion machine invented by John Abel. The first human dialysis was performed by a German doctor, Georg Haas in 1924. Unfortunately, his patients, in grave condition, died. Nevertheless the Haas Dialyzer survived to inspire future technological innovation.

The first successful dialysis was performed in the Netherlands in 1945 by Willem Kolff who used a rotating drum kidney machine to treat an elderly patient with acute renal failure. After a week-long treatment with the device she survived and regained normal kidney function.




Examples of the Kolff rotating drum kidney crossed the Atlantic after World War II and underwent significant technical improvement at Peter Brent Brigham Hospital in Boston. The modified machines became known as the Kolff-Brigham kidney, and between 1954 and 1962 were shipped worldwide.

Several developments advanced the safety and efficacy of dialysis over the years, including anticoagulant discoveries. Older preparations led to severe complications until Heparin was isolated and later purified. Yet another milestone was the development of an effective shunt for vascular access.

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