Investigators at the University of Washington, Seattle, have developed a compact, pumpless, flatplate dialyzer which in clinical trials has the same removal capacity as the Kiil dialyzer.
The new dialysis machine, developed by Lars Grimsrud, PhD, and Albert L. Babb, PhD, chairman, Department of Nuclear Engineering, has 1/3 the surface area (3,800 sq cm), uses 1/5 the blood (70 cc), and weighs only 1/4 as much (15 lbs.) as the Kiil machine.
The two layer experimental model used for in vitro testing and clinical trial measures only 1 × 1 1/2-feet × 3-inches. If size is not a consideration, a unit with more plates could obviously be constructed which would considerably reduce dialysis time.
The Babb-Grimsrud dialyzer, as it is called, has been used successfully in 15 clinical trials of 3 to 15 hours duration, Dr. Grimsrud told the Third International Congress of Nephrology, Washington, DC.
The new machine can