Researched
Kidney dialysis
Willem Kolff built a rotating-drum artificial kidney in occupied Holland; in 1945 a patient survived kidney failure, and dialysis became life-saving care.
Open in the interactive tree →Blood ran through cellophane tubing in a bath that filtered out waste, and Belding Scribner's 1960 shunt allowed repeated treatment, turning kidney failure into a long-term condition. Millions of people now depend on dialysis.
Prerequisites
Unlocks
- Organ transplantation1954Dialysis keeps kidney-failure patients alive while they wait for a donor organ