DIALYZER

INTRODUCTION


A dialyzer is an artificial kidney designed to provide controllable transfer of solutes and water across a semi -permeable membrane separating flowing blood and dialysate streams. The transfer processes are diffusion (dialysis) and convection (ultrafiltration).

COMPONENTS OF DIALYZER
 

BLOOD COMPARTMENT DIALYSATE COMPARTMENT

 

the fluid pumped into the canister to surround the hollow fibers dialysate helps remove uremic wastes, it also helps maintain a proper balance of electrolytes sodium, chloride, and magnesium in the blood.

SEMI PERMEABLE MEMBRANE MEMBRANE SUPPORT STRUCTURE

TYPES OF DIALYZERS
   

Kiil dialyzer Coil dialyzer Parallel Plate Dialyzer Hollow Fiber Dialyzer

KIIL DIALYZER


Used by HKL 1964

Assemble by dialysis staff before HD session Treatment time



8 hrs to 10 hrs

Problem - massive blood leak High mortality rate

COIL DIALYZER
An early design in which the blood compartment consisted of one or two long membrane tubes placed between support screens and then tightly wound around a plastic core. This design had serious performance limitations, which gradually restricted its use as better designs evolved.


The coil design did not produce uniform dialysate flow distribution across the membrane. More efficient devices have replaced the coil design.


PARALLEL PLATE DIALYZER

Sheets of membrane are mounted on plastic support screens, and then stacked in multiple layers ranging from 2 to 20 or more.


This design allows multiple parallel blood and dialysate flow channels with a lower resistance to flow.


The physical size of the parallel plate dialyzers has been greatly reduced since their introduction.


There have been major improvements which provide (1) thinner blood and dialysate channels with uniform dimensions, (2) minimal masking or blocking of membranes on the support, and (3) minimal stretching or deformation of membranes across the supports.


HOLLOW FIBER DIALYZER

This is the most effective design for providing lowvolume high efficiency devices with low resistance to flow.


The fibers in the device are termed the fiber bundle.



The fibers are potted in polyurethane at each end of the fiber bundle in the tube sheet, which serves as the membrane support.


HOLLOW FIBER DIALYZER

The hollow fiber dialyzer is the most popular of the above four types and is composed of group of between 8000 to 12,000 fibre like structures (capillaries) with an internal diameter of 200 microns.

Anatomy of a Hollow Fiber Dialyzer

Blood in Cross Section
Hollow Fibre membrane

Dialysate in

Dialysate Out

Blood out

Outside the Fibre (effluent) Inside the Fibre (blood)

ADVANTAGES OF HOLLOW FIBER DIALYZER

     

LOW OR SMALL PRIMING VOLUME HANDY, SMALL AND COMPACT INCREASE CLEARANCE OF MIDDLE MOLECULES GOOD ULTRAFILTRATION RATE (UFR) NO REBUILDING REDUCED RISK OF LEAKAGE

CONCLUSION
Depending upon the manufacturer, the fibers are made from such biocompatible materials as cellulose acetate or polysulfone. The fibers have a microporous structure that permit the diffusion of small molecular weight species from the blood to the dialysate. The diffusion rate can be expressed in terms of the dialyzer clearance of the molecule.

THE END
.. IS JUST A NEW BEGINNING