Design of a Portable Renal Replacement System Through Modeling and Experiment

Abstract

There are approximately 65,000 patients on sustaining hemodialysis in the United States for renal disease. While hemodialysis is traditionally performed three times weekly, several studies have shown improved patient results with increased treatment frequency and shorter treatment time. A more portable hemodialysis treatment would represent an improvement over current treatments by giving patients the ability to dialyze at their convenience, and more often for shorter treatment times. A prototype wearable artificial kidney has been developed by Gura et al.