There isn’t always a natural solution to diseases, to here is where medical technology comes into picture and searches for effective solutions. This serious condition can only be helped with dialysis and then a kidney transplant. But the waiting list for such a transplant can last too much and the patient might not be able to survive.
But here is some great news that comes from San Francisco, where at the University of California, there’s been invented the first bionic kidney that will soon replace damaged kidneys.
A Common Surgery Will be Needed to Insert the Bionic Kidney
There have been made tests and the surgical procedure was efficient. The bionic kidney has replaced a damaged kidney and will filter out toxins from the blood exactly as any other normal kidney would. It has microchips that are moved by the heart.
The UCSF scientists and associate professors are positive that their work will soon improve the lives of millions of patients that suffer from kidney failure, that is on dialysis and in need of a transplant.
Nanotechnology Silicone Microchips – Similar to What We Use in Computers
The bionic kidney has a microchip that has a similar function as microelectronics from computers. The microchips are great filters and are an affordable component. A bionic kidney has 12 layers of microchips that act as a scaffold which holds renal cells that are living and that will brow around and in the filters, making the bionic kidney function as a normal one.
What was challenging was finding a way to push the blood through the device without clotting or damaging it. One of the scientists, Amanda Bucks- biomedical engineer – checked this issue by using fluid dynamics.
No Rejection Factor
A traditional transplant can also be rejected by the host. With the bionic kidney, there is no such complication.
The project received a $6 million grant in 2015 from the National Institute of health and it looks like the money was well spent, helping build the first bionic kidney in the world.
So far, the prototype that the team of researchers has made is efficient in balancing levels of sodium and potassium and in regulating the pressure of blood. With the success of their prototype, human trials will soon come to see the bionic kidney in action.
