The development of dialysis membranes is closely related to the development of dialysis as a routine therapy for patients with kidney failure. Without having membranes and dialyzers available as commodity products, the treatment of more than 1,4 million uremic patients worldwide in 2002 would be impossible. Several transition periods can be identified: a change in membrane geometry from flat sheet to capillaries, and a shift in market appreciation from cellulose to synthetic polymers and from low-flux to high-flux dialyzers. This shift is supported by the notion that connective therapies using high-flux membranes allow the removal of large molecular weight solutes, which appear to be uremic toxins of paramount importance.
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