First US trial of wearable artificial kidney successful

[Charlie B53]

I don't know the date  on this.  I just ran across the link in Facebook.

I knew this was coming, just didn't think it would ever come about anytime soon.
Hoping it would have been far more than a 24 hour test.  Give it time.  I'm still hopeful it will soon become far more available, especially to those NOT doing well on dialysis and NOT good candidates for transplant.

I'm stable enough on PD, I can wait and let those far more in need go ahead of me.



http://chronicpainsolutions.org/first-us-trial-of-wearable-artificial-kidney-successful/



The wearable artificial kidney has passed the first FDA-approved proof-of-concept trial, Victor Gura, MD, FASN and other researchers announced at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2015. The device was developed by Gura, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The present prototype of the WAK is a 10-pound device, powered by nine-volt batteries and worn around the waist.

Seven hemodialysis patients wore the device for 24 hours and remained hemodynamically stable with no adverse events

[BigDadii]

I hope this really works

In one subject, treatment was discontinued due to clotting after four hours. In a second subject, treatment was discontinued due to discoloration of dialysate observed after 10 hours. The trial was stopped after the 7th subject due to device-related malfunctions that included excessive CO2 bubbles in the dialysate, variable blood and dialysate flows, and tubing leaks during the priming phase. Redesign and re-manufacturing of the WAK prototype will be required prior to additional human studies.

“The data provides proof of concept that the WAK is an effective and safe dialysis device that will greatly improve quality of life for ESRD patients, Gura said. “The results suggest that the WAK has the potential to reduce patient mortality and cut the exorbitant cost of treating kidney failure.”

According to Gura, the current WAK prototype will become smaller, lighter and easier to wear. The device has already passed proof of concept studies in Italy and England.

[Whamo]

   It's encouraging news, but they're still tweaking it to get it right.  I wish them success.

[BigDadii]

I'll be the first to sign up

[Charlie B53]

Once perfected I'm sure the 'waiting list' will far exceed production. Could be for quite a while.  But it would be a great thing.  Hopefully it could be made available to those in most desperate need.  I know PD is currently working so well for me that I can afford to wait and allow anyone else in dire need go before me.

[Simon Dog]

It will take a long time to be approved for general use in the US.   Just look at how slowly the US had adopted hemodiafilitration as an option (Last I heard, DaVita was running a trial program), whereas it is a standard modality in some European countries.

[Charlie B53]

It's a shame that the U.S. has to take so long when so many lives, and quality of lives, depend in getting something like this into use.

[Simon Dog]

It's easy to bash the FDAs glacial pace until you read about things like the Thalidomide disaster of the 1950s.

[kickingandscreaming]

Unfortunately, the FDA is pretty much in the pocket of corporate medical-industrial complex.  So there are a lot of vested interests in keeping the status quo.  Our only real hope of progress, IMHO, is when the corporate-government axis wakes up to how unaffordable this treatment is.  Then they might speed up research and throw more money at kidney research (which is now paltry compared to other "flashier" diseases).