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Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

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Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#51

Post by DennisP »

tialaramex wrote: post #47
DennisP wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, the government spends a huge amount on dialysis. Medicare pays for it regardless of your age. Removing the need for dialysis simplifies life for politicians by putting off the day they need to raise taxes or cut Medicare services. Dialysis is also a lot crappier than this would be. My mom was on dialysis and quality of life is not great. Neither is the expected lifespan. Free markets have their fla…

My understanding is that the firms who provide Medicare patient dialysis are very loathe to have patients exit their system, if they spend say $1000 on patient care and bill Medicare, the US government, for $1200 that's $200 of very safe profit. If that patient gets a transplant that's $200 of lost profits, regardless of how much healthier the patient is, and so they have no incentive to help patients get a transplan…

There are about 1300 transplant nephrologists in the US: https://www.kidneynews.org/view/journals/kidney-news/13/7/ar...

They make their money from transplants, not from dialysis. If you want an artificial kidney, a transplant surgeon is what you need, and for them, artificial kidneys are just more business.

Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#52

Post by spondylosaurus »

tialaramex wrote: post #37
civilitty wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the patient donate his body to science or something? What’s the legality and ethics of operating on a neurologically dead person?

"This important research, which study leaders say could save many lives in the future, was made possible by the family of a 57-year-old male who elected to donate his body after a brain death declaration and a circumstance in which his organs or tissues were not suitable for transplant."

Ooh, I need to look into this... I assume "donate to science" is an additional opt-in not covered by the regular organ donor designation, but it seems like something where one or more or less inclusive of the other and it'd be cool if we treated them as such.

Like, my organs are kind of crummy, so idk if anyone would benefit from them as a transplant. I just want my body to be useful!

Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#56

Post by xyst »

ma55ypi3 wrote: post #16

Will this be abused whereby peoples are coerced into trading their kidney for an artificial one for a price?

So an “organic organ” market? Cruelty free? No artificial?

Possibly, but if artificial kidneys (or artiforg) becomes viable for all types of patients. It would make sense to ban live organ transplant. Anybody caught transplanting live organs without a valid reason and reasoning signed off in triplicate will get their license revoked and jailed for many years. Co-conspirators to be jailed as well. Supermax, no pass go.

Of course something like this only works if the international community is synced. Nothing to stop a group of (rich) people from flying to a country without these laws and organ shopping.

Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#57

Post by DennisP »

quasarj wrote: post #53
tomcam wrote: post #26

Five years away, I’m sure! The really good stuff is perpetually five years away…

Yep, this has been 5 years away for the past 20 years.

What hasn't existed for the past 20 years: an artificial kidney device that works in pigs for at least a week.

Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#58

Post by markdown »

bobmaxup wrote: post #29
mdhen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have one in a brain dead patient right now, been over a month with no issues.

https://nyulangone.org/news/pig-kidney-xenotransplantation-p...

That article is two weeks old. Is there a place where they publish regular updates?

Re: Can an artificial kidney finally free patients from dialysis?

#60

Post by rukavinaemanuel »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #52
tialaramex wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This important research, which study leaders say could save many lives in the future, was made possible by the family of a 57-year-old male who elected to donate his body after a brain death declaration and a circumstance in which his organs or tissues were not suitable for transplant."

Ooh, I need to look into this... I assume "donate to science" is an additional opt-in not covered by the regular organ donor designation, but it seems like something where one or more or less inclusive of the other and it'd be cool if we treated them as such. Like, my organs are kind of crummy, so idk if anyone would benefit from them as a transplant. I just want my body to be useful!

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