General Information

Serial #

prototype

Part Number

1

Total Parts

6

AKA

dialysing membrane cylinder

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal; cellulose acetate casing

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

N/A

Width

N/A

Height

43.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

28.5 cm

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Medical Technology

Category

Research

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Murray

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Toronto

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Used 1946- 1947.

Canada

First artificial kidney machine made in North America by Dr. Gordon Murray, simultaneously and independently of Willem Kolff's invention in Holland in the 1940s. Designed and built by Murray himself, it was used successfully on four patients at Toronto General Hospital, 1946-47. These patients, suffering from acute kidney failure, were the first in North America to be treated with renal dialysis. Murray was a remarkable surgeon and innovator whose work earned him international recognition. In the 1930s Dr. Murray introduced the anticoagulant Heparin to world clinical practice; in the '40s he developed the first artificial kidney in North America; and in 1955 he performed the first successful transplant of a human heart valve. Unfortunately, these achievements are often overshadowed by his later, controversial work on an anti-cancer serum, and on unconventional surgery for injuries caused by traumatic paraplegia. (Ref. 3]

Function

To filter impurities from blood.

Technical

Filtering unit is composed of bath jar (.3) containing wire mesh cylinder wrapped around with casing (.1), within which a thermometer, stirrer and heating coil are suspended from the cover (.2). The pump unit (.4) was used to circulate blood through the filter [ie. membrane and dialysate solution], and return it to the patient. Parts of this first artificial kidney machine were used in the development and earliest versions of Murray's second artificial kidney machine, designed with Dr. Walter Roschlau c. 1951-53. [see 2002.0610]

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None evident.

Missing

Unknown.

Finish

Metal frame; metal wire mesh covering; cellulose acetate casing.

Decoration

N/A