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The artificial kidney and its effect on the development of other artificial organs

Nature Medicine volume 8, pages 1063–1065 (2002)Cite this article

The birth of the artificial kidney

I was the youngest unpaid assistant in internal medicine at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands in 1939. I was responsible for four patients, one of whom was a 22-year-old man who slowly and miserably died from chronic uremia. I determined that if I could have removed 20 g of urea per day from his blood, this man might have survived1,2,3.

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Figure 1: Rotating-drum artificial kidneys.
Figure 2: Artificial organ development.
Figure 3: Willem J. Kolff demonstrating the Wearable artificial lung.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Willem J. Kolff

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  1. Willem J. Kolff
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Kolff, W. The artificial kidney and its effect on the development of other artificial organs. Nat Med 8, 1063–1065 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm771

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