Who developed the first practical artificial kidney used to treat a patient?

Willem Kolff developed the first practical artificial kidney used to treat a patient.

During World War II, Dutch physician Willem Kolff built a dialysis machine in the Netherlands. His early device used rotating wooden drums, cellophane tubing, and a dialysis solution. The semipermeable tubing allowed some waste products to pass out of the blood while retaining larger components such as blood cells.

Kolff first treated patients with acute kidney failure in the 1940s. His machine helped remove urea and other wastes while the kidneys were temporarily unable to work. Many early patients did not survive, but the treatment of a 67-year-old woman in 1945 is widely regarded as the first successful use of an artificial kidney.

The technology became more practical after Kolff’s designs reached other researchers, including George Thorn and later American dialysis pioneers. Modern hemodialysis uses highly refined filters and monitoring systems, but it follows the same basic principle of separating waste from blood across a membrane.