September 11, 1945, 80 years ago: Dr. Willem Kolff performs a dialysis of a kidney patient, marking the 1st successful use of what would later be called an "artificial kidney" or a "kidney machine."
Willem Johan Kolff was born on February 14, 1911 at Leiden, The Netherlands. His father was a physician, and he decided at an early age to follow the footsteps of his father. He began his medical studies at the University of Leiden in 1930. From 1934 to 1936, he worked as an assistant in the pathological anatomy department of the university.
After completing M.D. in 1938, Kolff continued studies at the University of Groningen. It was during this time that Kolff became interested in the possibility of artificially simulating the function of kidney, to remove toxins from the blood of patients with uremia, or kidney failure. Professor Polak Daniels, chief of the medical department at Groningen, became his mentor and supported him.
He began his research in dialysis at Gottingen after watching a young man die from kidney failure. He became interested in and studied deeply on blood transfusion as well. When Germany attacked the Netherlands in 1940, Kolff founded the first blood bank on the continent of Europe.
He theorized that a machine could be made to work as a kidney substitute, and could be used to filter out acid and waste materials from the blood. The machine could be used for such time till the kidney tissue could regenerate and function again.
But all resources were restricted during World War II. His creative mind laid hands on laundry tubs, wooden drums, cellophane tubing, a semipermeable sausage casing, and an electric motor. With these, he made a crude apparatus. With that, he drew the patient's blood, cleansed it of impurities, and pumped it back into the patient.
The first several patients lived only a few days. The breakthrough came a month after the war ended. In August 1945, Kolff was asked to treat Maria Schafstad, a 65-year-old female prisoner. She was in a coma due to renal failure. Maria was branded as a Nazi collaborator, and Kolff was advised to deny treatment and allow her to die. But Kolff, true to the principles of medical ethics, believed that, as a doctor, it was not his job to determine who should live or die. He started treating her as a patient and not a criminal. After many hours of treatment, she slowly opened her eyes. She lived for 6 more years, and died for reasons not related to kidney issues.
After the war, he shipped free dialysis machines to researchers in England, Canada and the United States. He immigrated to the United States in 1950, where he worked at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Later, at the University of Utah, Dr. Kolff mentored Dr. Robert Jarvik, and, together, they created the Jarvik-7 artificial heart. Over the years, Dr. Kolff mentored many other pioneers in the artificial organ field.
In 1967, Kolff moved to the University of Utah. Despite the opposition of many physicians, he wanted to give the patient more comfort and allow them to perform their dialysis at home, without a doctor's supervision. In 1975, he introduced the Wearable Artificial Kidney, an 8-pound chest pack with an 18-pound auxiliary tank.
On December 2, 1982, the Jarvik-7 artificial heart was successfully implanted into Barney Clark, a 61-year-old dentist. When Cark died after 4 months, due to other issues, the Jarvik-7 was still functioning.
Like polio vaccine creator Jonas Salk, Kolff never patented his inventions, and donated everything to the world. He officially retired in 1997, but continued his research and creative work till his death on February 11, 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment