Body & HealthHow it works

How a machine takes over what two kidneys do.

Blood flows along a semipermeable membrane with a rinsing fluid running the other way on the far side. Dissolved substances move by diffusion from high to low concentration; water is pressed out by pressure. The usual schedule is three sessions a week of three to four hours each.

Useful: Willem Kolff built the first working dialysis machine between 1943 and 1945.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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