Skip to main content

5 questions about Artificial Implantable Kidney to understand it better





Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/artificial-kidney-may-hit-market-by-end-of-decade/articleshow/56801777.cms

What is it?

An implantable kidney that works due to silicon microchips. These microchips will house living kidney cells that will grow on an around the microchips. These cells will then mimic the natural action of the kidney.

How does it work? 

It will work in the same way that a regular kidney works with the patients blood flow. The living kidney cells will create membrane that will filter your blood the way a normal kidney does. Also because it is out of reach from the bodys immune system response it cannot be rejected as with an organ transplant.

Who is making it?
It is being developed by University of California San Francisco (Shuvo Ray) and Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Nephrology (William H Fissel).

Fissell has been working on the implantable artificial kidney for more than a decade with University of California San Francisco bioengineer Shuvo Roy, PhD. In November 2015, the National Institutes of Health awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to the investigators to develop the implantable artificial kidney. In 2003, the project attracted its first NIH funding, and in 2012 the Food and Drug Administration selected the project for a fast-track approval program.  (Source - http://www.nephrologynews.com/implantable-artificial-kidney-project-making-progress/)

How will it help the patients?

It will help all the patients who are currently on dialysis and awaiting an organ transplant. Having an artificial kidney will eliminate dialysis and the dependency on an organ transplant. It will help CKD patients who are awaiting a transplant for are dependent on dialysis but eliminating the need for both and drastically reducing wait times and mortatlity rates.

When will it hit the market?

The human trail for the project starts in Dec 2017 with there being an estimate of it hitting the markets by 2020.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pancreatic Rest - The cure to Diabetes type 2

Shocked? Well apparently the cure to Diabetes Mellitus or Type 2 Diabetes has been in front of our eyes all along. Type 2 diabetes, is a condition where the body fails to regulate the sugar levels in the blood causes too much or too little insulin to be produced by the pancreas. It usually turns into a life long disease requiring diet control and insulin therapy. According to new research, conducted at McMaster university in Canada, there may be hope for type 2 suffers through an intensive program that involves closely monitoring of diet+exercises+insulin+oral medicines. It basically involves giving rest to your pancreas after which your pancreases returns to normal (according to 40% of the results of study) and you are cured of diabetes or your diabetes is reversed, atleast temporarily. Here are some of the numbers as shared by McMaster University Research Program: 41% of the participants saw their diabetes reverse in just four months after the intensive program. The trial...

Why the new Mental Health bill is being hailed by everyone in India right now

Mental health in India has always been greatly stigmatized. We are extremely judgmental of people who say they are depressed and approach a psychiatrist for the same. We talk behind their back and generally brand them as 'mental case'. It wasn't until recently Deepika Padukone followed by a number of other celebs disclosed being depressed and having various mental ailments that to some level it seems that we have reached a stage where we can atleast have a conversation about it.  Recently the mental health care bill of 2013 was passed, that updated a lot of definitions of what constitutes mental health. It has been hailed by the general public as a step in the right direction. Here are some of the salient features of the bill that have really been appreciated by everyone.    1. First and most importantly, the mental health bill decriminalizes suicide. Viewed as a revolutionary move, the bill acknowledges the various mental factors contributing to a person...

Now a blood test to detect Cancer and pinpoint its location

A blood test called CancerLocater has been developed by the University of California that not only detects cancer within the body but also where the cancer is located. Infact the test is so simple that the basic idea is to include it in annual check-ups to help detect cancer before it starts showing and symptoms. The test does is it locates the Cancer DNA within the body Each time of cancer within the body has a different DNA which can be picked up and be read by a machine to determine where cancer maybe arising. One of the greatest advantage of a test like this would be to help spot cancer while it is still in the initial stages. This techniques is also non-evasive and will encourage more people to opt for it. India has nearly 1.8 million cancer patients most with cancers that are only caught in the last stages. The survival rates of Cancer can be increased greatly if the cancer is caught during the initial stages.