Saturday, December 4, 2010

Artificial Kidneys!!!

I am taking a break from the Abha Roadies to write about this wonderful new invention: Artificial Kidney. I was browsing the usual news websites when this article caught my attention:Artificial Kidney.

An Indian, Mr.Shuvo Roy based in US, and his team has created the first implantable artificial kidney. WOW! This is something we should have had years ago. No, I am not complaining that it has come so late. This comment stems from my experience when my Dad was affected with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). He was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure 10 years ago and due to his smoking habits, his kidney performance deteriorated rapidly.

He is not the first in the family to be affected with PKD. My paternal grandmother, my first aunt all had this killer disease which proved fatal for them. Luckily, my Dad had the courage and more importantly the will power to overcome this disease.

A fistula and 75 painful haemo-dialysis later, we were able to plan for his renal transplant. But his kidneys had been so badly damaged that he had to undergo a bilateral nephrectomy. 4 weeks later he had a successful renal transplant.

It was really bad to see 200 odd pin pricks on his hand meant for dialysis. I sincerely hope this new device from MIT will help reduce the physical pain and the cost of dialysis for all those who are suffering from renal disease!

Congrats Mr. Shuvo Roy!