3 Ways to Build an Artificial Kidney.Abdul Aziz

Roll: 1207001

Dept. of CSE

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OutlinesThe goals of Artificial KidneyMotivationWays to Build an Artificial Kidney

1. Kidney-on-a-Belt2. The Cyborg Kidney3. The Dark Horse Kidney

SummaryReferences

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The goals of Artificial KidneyGiving people with kidney failure an escape from today’s dialysis routine.

Because dialysis keeps people alive, but it’s also pretty terrible.

To free patients from dialysis machines forever.

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MotivationA typical patient goes to a clinic three times each week to be hooked up to

a dialysis machine and

lies there for three or four hours while blood cycles out of the body, through the machine, and back in again.

The machine does the job that the kidneys can no longer do, filtering out toxic waste products and

maintaining the balance of electrolytes, and removing excess water. 

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Motivation(cont’d)Losing time and mobility is a major downside of today’s dialysis process.

Also, most patients have to carefully restrict their diet and fluid intake, and often experience extreme fatigue after treatment and

 other side effects including low blood pressure, nausea, and muscle cramps.

So what’s the alternative?

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Ways to Build an Artificial KidneyThere are 3 different ways I will discuss.1. KIDNEY-ON-A-BELT.

2. THE CYBORG KIDNEY.

3. THE DARK HORSE KIDNEY.

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1. Kidney-on-a-Belt Wearable Artificial Kidney(WAK).

On the WAK belt, which weighs 5 kilograms.

Small two-channel pump propels the patient’s blood and

The dialysate through separate tubes into a small dialyzer, where the standard filtering process occurs.

WAK can improve quality of life for dialysis patients.

Patient can walk around during treatment, eat and drink whatever they wanted, and sleep. 

Kidney-on-a-Belt

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Limitations of WAK  The researchers encountered kinked tubes, an erratic pump, and batteries and

absorbent cartridges that needed replacing.

Carbon dioxide bubbles in the dialysate circuit, and gas bubbles can be

deadly if they reach the heart or brain.

The WAK included both gas bubble alarms and degassing vents.

But the incidents made it clear that the device needs a redesign to reduce the

production of gas and improve its venting. 

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2. The Cyborg KidneyThe bioartificial kidney, which is about the size of a coffee cup.

Contains two main components.

 A filtering unit that uses a silicon membrane with nanopores to from the blood and

An innovative bioreactor unit that holds living kidney cells inside. 

The bioreactor performs the various metabolic and endocrine roles of a functioning kidney.

Haven’t yet tested an entire prototype, but trials of the individual units have yielded promising results.

The Cyborg Kidney

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3. The Dark Horse KidneyCurrently being nurtured at  IndieBio, a San Francisco accelerator for

biotech companies.

 Uses a nano-filtration system to mimic the organ’s function, and drains

waste products into the bladder.

Make ultrathin membranes out of crystalline silicon that would serve as

the filter between the blood and the dialysate.

Researcheres say that the device will continuously filter the patient’s

blood for years without requiring maintenance or cleaning.

The Dark Horse Kidney

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SummaryThree research groups taking very different approaches to building an

artificial kidney all have the same goal or job.

 If the devices can do that job, researchers can achieve their goal: “The

idea is to free patients from dialysis machines forever,” they say. 

Then it will be very helpful for human in all aspects of lifes.

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References

1. Eliza Stickland, “3 Ways To Build An Artificial Kidney” http://

spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/3-ways-to-build-an-artificial-kidney

2. Victor Gura, Matthew B. Rivara, Scott Bieber, Raj Munshi, Nancy Colobong Smith, Lori

Linke, John Kundzins, Masoud Beizai, Carlos Ezon, Larry Kessler, and Jonathan

Himmelfarb “A Wearable Artificial Kidney For Patients With End Stage Renal Disease”

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Thank You.

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Any Question