The Artificial Kidney
Though principally a heart surgeon, Dr. Gordon Murray somehow found time to experiment with the kidneys and, in particular, applying the anti-coagulant Heparin to allow the blood to bypass a dysfunctional kidney and be filtered of its liquid waste products outside the body. In 1945, Murray designed and built an artificial kidney machine that could cleanse the blood through a semi-permeable membrane.
After testing the machine with dogs, on December 6, 1946, he decided to try it on his first human patient, a 26-year-old pregnant, unmarried woman who had tried to abort herself with a disinfectant, causing severe infection and complete kidney failure. She had been admitted to Ward F at the TGH in a coma and Murray thought there was little else he could do but try his odd-looking, homemade kidney machine. After hooking her up to the machine via veins in her legs and turning it on, her blood flowed through the machine and her condition improved, albeit after several relapses that signaled to Murray that adjustments were needed to regulate the procedure. After 33 days of treatment, the woman was released.
For Murray and TGH, this was another celebrated case in the press. Murray went on to treat 16 more cases with this machine by 1952. However, his cardiac surgical work limited his time to further develop the technology, although others certainly did.
After testing the machine with dogs, on December 6, 1946, he decided to try it on his first human patient, a 26-year-old pregnant, unmarried woman who had tried to abort herself with a disinfectant, causing severe infection and complete kidney failure. She had been admitted to Ward F at the TGH in a coma and Murray thought there was little else he could do but try his odd-looking, homemade kidney machine. After hooking her up to the machine via veins in her legs and turning it on, her blood flowed through the machine and her condition improved, albeit after several relapses that signaled to Murray that adjustments were needed to regulate the procedure. After 33 days of treatment, the woman was released.
For Murray and TGH, this was another celebrated case in the press. Murray went on to treat 16 more cases with this machine by 1952. However, his cardiac surgical work limited his time to further develop the technology, although others certainly did.