How modern renal dialysis started with old car parts

摘要

These days, renal dialysis is regarded as a routine, albeit lifesaving, procedure. The honour of performing the first renal dialysis goes to George Haas (1886-1971) who worked in Giessen, Germany, and who used goldbeaters' skin as a membrane in experiments with animal blood. He carried out a number of experiments to dialyse the blood of uraemic patients, but the dialyses were too short to have a significant therapeutic effect.