| dc.description.abstract | The kidney is one of the most vital organs in the body. When a significant number of the kidney's functional units, the nephrons, are failing, an artificial means of fulfilling the kidney's duties is required in order to sustain life. The functions for which the kidney is responsible include the regulation of ion concentrations, waste product reabsorption, water volume control, and regulating the acid-base balance of the body.
One such means of artificial kidney functioning, hemodialysis, consists of the blood passing extracorporeally through a dialyzer. A dialyzer is essentially a semipermeable membrane across which products diffuse between the blood, which is on one side of the membrane, and the dialysate, which is on the other. Dialysate is normally a physiologic cleansing solution containing glucose, amino acids, vitamins, and other vital substances.
Dialyzers are meant to be single-use; however, it is common practice by many dialysis centers to reuse them often up to 30-40 times. The purpose of this research project is to attempt to prove that dialyzer reuse has a direct effect on the efficiency and thereby the mass transport of products across the semipermeable membrane. | en |
