Author: Rapha

LOUISVILLE––Victor Gura is a nephrologist turned inventor. He can give you a fascinating review of progress on his project, the wearable artificial kidney. But equally of interest is the story about the patients who tested the device––and the nurse who patiently lead them through it.

Last week, Gura gave his second talk in the past two years at the American Nephrology Nurses Association 47th National Symposium. It was on the last morning of the five-day meeting––a tough assignment for any speaker. But the ballroom was filled. Gura made some general comments about innovation in the dialysis community, noting some research efforts regarding new machines, most of them for home use. He expressed support for the implantable artificial kidneyundergoing development at the University of California San Francisco. “There is a lot of work being done,” he said.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and associate professor of medicine William H. Fissell IV, MD, is making major progress on an implantable artificial kidney. The device uses microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart.

Fissell has been working on the implantable artificial kidney for more than a decade with University of California San Francisco bioengineer Shuvo Roy, PhD. In November 2015, the National Institutes of Health awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to the investigators to develop the implantable artificial kidney. In 2003, the project attracted its first NIH funding, and in 2012 the Food and Drug Administration selected the project for a fast-track approval program.

Waltham, Mass.-based Fresenius Medical Care North America announced Wednesday it has renamed its dialysis service division “Fresenius Kidney Care” to highlight its focus on the kidney care it provides at more than 2,200 dialysis centers around the country.

“We created this name to better communicate our approach to helping people with kidney disease thrive and continue doing the things that matter most to them,” William Valle, executive vice president of FMCNA and president of Fresenius Kidney Care, said in a statement. “We do this by providing high-quality, personalized care, support and resources to help people lead more meaningful and fulfilled lives.”

To accompany this change, the division launched a new website that provides consumers with educational materials on treatment options, nutrition information and renal disease facts. Fresenius Kidney Care has also launched Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels to better engage its patient community.