Simplifying at-home dialysis

Although some renal units in hospitals have managed to implement some successful home haemodialysis programmes using standard equipment, these machines are complex, large and heavy.

This has left patients with limited options on where to install the system, a problem the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded Devices for Dignity (D4D) co-operative wanted to address.

The co-operative, led by clinical director Prof Wendy Tindale, has brought together experts from the hydraulics industry and the NHS to develop a new machine and formed a new company - Quanta Fluid Solutions - which will market it.

The Quanta haemodialysis machine uses a cartridge to mix the water and salt solutions required to generate the fluid required for dialysis. Although it produces the fluid in small amounts, it is able to match the flow rates of a standard machine so that patients receive exactly the same treatment they would in a hospital. As the cartridge is disposable, the need for disinfecting the fluid pathways of the machine after each dialysis is eliminated.