Bionic Kidney

[jflorax]

Has anyone heard of this project? pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney/device

I would definitely sign up for this.

[Kaybee615]

Jflorax I did I think it's the same one it's also , I believe connected with Stanford U. Looks very promising I followed them before my transplant a couple of years still in research. The thing I appreciated the preliminary testing looks favorable, procedure easily tolerated, no anti rejection meds are needed, you may need a filter change but it can be done in outpatient surgery.. The crazy thing they are short on funding by 10 Million just glanced at what you posted.. But a great option hopefully at some point in the future.

[Darlenia in reply to Kaybee615]

The Kidney Project is a national project based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. The filter is biologically based on your own cells and likely won't ever need replacing. This is all so exciting. People will still need to take EPO though. I absolutely love the fact that no immunosuppressants are involved. So cool.

[PeaB4YouGo]

Find a way to miniaturize that thing and I'll be in line.

[Darlenia in reply to PeaB4YouGo]

The implantable artificial kidney is already very small - about the size of a coffee cup. Researchers for the Kidney Project are taking names for those who want to be part of the clinical trials...expected to happen in about 4 years. You can sign up here (number 24): pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney/devic... My hubby signed up some time ago when he was on dialysis. I love the work they're doing.

[jflorax in reply to Darlenia]

I'm going to sign up when I get to that point, but really I want to be called the Bionic Woman... dating myself now. Hoping if I get this, the bionic music will play every time I enter a room!

I have a very weird sense of humour and it's how I deal. 😀

[Darlenia in reply to jflorax]

Haha! I like your sense of humor!

[Kaybee615 in reply to Darlenia]

I said Stanford, was sure there was place in TN cause it was where I thought I'd go if it became available in time. It was Vanderbilt they are working with the project.

Here's the site: pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney/devic...

[Darlenia in reply to Kaybee615]

That's the beauty of this this device - it can be "manufactured" and be available anywhere - at a hospital near you! Kinda like implantable pacemakers. I suspect several teams are sharing research with each other.

[drmind]

Wow! Amazing

[metalminded]

It sure would be nice to have an implantable device that would solve the issue of shortage of organ donors and the need for dialysis.

I'd be fine having to take medication or even injections (maybe not daily) to have an artificial kidney I'd never have to worry about failing! It would be nice to get off of prednisone too! Ugh!!

[allene7]

I've heard of the Kidney Projects bio artificial kidney. I don,t think this will be ready for quite a while. You can go to the Kidney Project and follow progress or just read about it if you like.

[JEanes55]

I really like this project!

[CKD2-4]

hi. I was on a webinar the other day sponsored by the AKF. They had a speaker who said they anticipated this type of kidney would be available for use by the end of the decade. I am pretty excited about this development and will look forward to it coming to fruition.