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The acu-men: a new device for continuous renal replacement therapy in acute renal failure
M Manns1, H D Polaschegg, C Schlaeper
1Fresenius Medical Care, Bad Homburg, Germany.
Background:
We sought to design a simple machine to safely provide continuous veno-venous hemofiltration to acute renal failure patients.
Results:
The acu-men device uses a pneumatic blood pump with tidal blood flow as the driving force. A volumetric balancing system balances the filtrate with the replacement fluid, and the blood-air interface is eliminated by replacing the conventional venous drip chamber with two air-separating membranes. The extracorporeal circuit is integrated in a disposable cartridge, which is inserted into the machine at the beginning of treatment. The priming and rinsing is done automatically.
Conclusion:
While preliminary data from an ongoing clinic trial on the efficacy of the device are encouraging, further long-term studies are necessary to evaluate its potential to decrease morbidity and mortality in acute renal failure patients.