The world’s first dialyser was invented in 1943 by a Dutch physician called Willem Kolff. Back then, the machine was known as an ‘artificial kidney,’ and despite the rarity of the use of this term in modern day society, the machine is able to replicate the functions of our kidneys.
The main function of a kidney is to filter and cleanse our blood by removing toxic substances so that it doesn’t accumulate in our bloodstream and potentially lead to death. How amazing is it that there exists a machine that can replicate the complex yet vital job of our kidneys, which initially made use of cellophane sausage skins? Yes, you read that right – sausage skins!
Kloff’s inspiration behind the invention came from the time he saw a 23-year-old patient of his dying painfully after suffering from kidney failure. Since then, Kloff was determined to invent a way to treat other patients with acute kidney failure, and reduce the chances of such patients from dying.
As a young child, Kloff was often punished at school for his inability to read and write eloquently because he was dyslexic: at the time, dyslexia’s existence was neglected. In response, Kloff’s father would arrange workshop sessions with a carpenter on Sunday afternoons for Kloff to attend. Over time, these sessions have proven to be very beneficial to Kloff, for he would later build his dialyser machine out of equipment he could get his hands on.
1943 was not only the year of the great invention, but also a year in which much of the world was ravaged by war. Therefore, materials were scarce and budgets were tight to build a machine. Furthermore, Kloff was challenged with the problems of having fifteen of his patients die after receiving dialysis treatment at the beginning of the invention. Eventually, after numerous amounts of trial and error improving the sophisticated system of his dialyser, Kloff succeeded.
The structure of his original invention was made out of using a cellophane sausage wrapper as a filter to clean blood. (The wrapper has a thin layer consists of many miniature holes) – and from there the magic began. In summary, the first dialysis machine was eventually developed from wrapping cellophane sausage around a cylinder made from various parts of a German fighter plane and old Ford car.
Later on in his career, Kloff moved to the US and worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in which he accomplished the task of making dialysis an official health service for treating patients with kidney transplants. To this day, not only would the people who read about his story remember about his valuable legacy, but also his enormous generosity for donating five dialysers to different hospitals after their development. Additionally, Kloff never patented his invention, so over 55,000 patients with kidney failures are being kept alive daily because of Kloff – the Father of artificial kidneys!
Comments