'Cardiff’ peritoneal dialysis machine, England, 1965-1970
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When a person’s kidneys fail, waste products cannot be removed from the blood. Serious illness inevitably follows and dialysis is one way of treating the condition. This machine was used for peritoneal dialysis. Dialysis fluid was inserted into the membrane in the abdomen, known as the peritoneum, which then cleaned the waste products out when the fluid was removed. This was only a short term solution and if kidney failure was ongoing a transplant may have been needed. The machine was made by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Ltd and was donated to the Science Museum’s collections by Stobhill General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland.
Object number:
1987-455
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: kidney dialysis machine
A machine used to artificially replicate the function of the kidneys.