dialysis

Term: dialysis

Origin: Anc Greek

δια-/dia(=prefix meaning through, apart) > probably from the root δις/dis(=twice)

+ λύση/lysis(=noun derived from verb λύω/leo =to break up, to solve, to loose)

literally meaning “dissolution”

Coined

Thomas Graham (1805-1869)

In 1861, by Scotsman and Prof of Chemistry, Thomas Graham (1805-1869). He showed that vegetable parchment coated with albumin acted as a semipermeable membrane and used this to remove solutes from fluids containing colloids and crystalloids. His basic method of extracting urea from urine is still being practiced today. The next step, removing solutes through a semipermeable membrane from the blood of an animal, took place in Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, in 1913, by J Abel and his colleagues Rowntree and Turner. However the person recognized for being the "Father of Dialysis," is Willem Kolff, MD, a physician in The Netherlands who constructed the first practical human hemodialysis machine in 1943

(Source: Replacement of renal function by dialysis, 3^rd edition, by J Maher, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989)

Definition:

1. The process of filtering the blood in order to remove waste or toxic substances mainly in patients with impaired kidney function. Two main types of dialysis are known a. hemodialysis and b. peritoneal dialysis.

2. The separation of smaller molecules from larger molecules in a solution by selective diffusion through a semipermeable membrane.