Improved dialysis procedure Blood cleaned much faster and better

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin reports breakthrough in the further development of dialysis procedures
Scientists at the Berlin Charité have developed a biophysical dialysis procedure. This allows up to 50 percent more toxins to be filtered out of the blood of dialysis patients. As a result, dialysis times for kidney-damaged people could be drastically reduced. The patent application was filed in 2011. An international medical technology manufacturer has now acquired the know-how for a seven-figure amount. The Charité will continue the development of the technology.

Development is a major novelty in dialysis technology and utilizes the action of AC fields to remove toxic substances from the bloodstream. In the metabolism of a person, many substances accumulate, these can become poison for the body when their concentration in the blood rises too high. If kidneys are no longer able to adequately cleanse the blood due to illness, more and more toxins accumulate which may cause the person to die. The only solution in this case is a regular blood wash, also called dialysis, until the patient receives a transplant. Dialysis therapy is a blood purification procedure. In this case, blood is pumped out of the patient via an access. In a dialyzer, which acts as a kind of filter, this is cleaned and returned to those affected.

The new dialysis procedure brings significant improvements for the patients. (Image: sudok1 / fotolia.com)

Current dialysis procedures can not filter out protein-bound toxins
Until now, the biggest problem with dialysis was that some of the toxins that need to be excreted bind to the body's own proteins. No common dialysis procedure was able to filter out toxins in this form. According to Charité, a promising breakthrough has now been achieved after a long development period. A new method allows to separate toxic substances from the proteins. This is done by passing them through an AC field of specific frequency and strength. Prof. Dr. Walter Zidek, Head of the Department of Nephrology and Endocrinology, explains: "Once the toxin-protein link has been broken, conventional dialysis technology can be used to filter toxins out of the blood and reduce a patient's toxin load."

Berliner Charité on the way to the solution
The Charité Berlin has already applied for the basic procedure for a patent some time ago. Now, after further intensive development work, it was possible to sell this method to a large international medical technology manufacturer. The new technology has great potential in the future healthcare system. The new procedure enables lower dialysis times and thus improves the quality of life of the patient. It also ensures a longer survival of patients before a necessary kidney transplantation. German developers are working together with Charité scientists around Prof. Zidek on the testing and transfer of the technology into the application. In the course of 2016, the innovative, new procedure will be tested in a final clinical trial.

Dialysis may eventually be superfluous
Scientists at the University of Greifswald have been working for years on the goal of eliminating the stressful and life-limiting dialysis for patients. Their study found that many gene variants affect kidney function. A combination of "bad" genes could significantly increase the hereditary predisposition to chronic kidney failure, according to the Greifswald researchers. (As)