Study of Dialyzer Membrane (Polyflux 210H) and Effects of Different Parameters on Dialysis Performance

Abstract

Problems frequently encountered in kidney malfunction include abnormal fluid levels in the body, increased acid levels, abnormal levels of Urea, Glucose, Endothelin, β2-Microglobulin and Complement Factor D. Parameters characterizing the structure of dialyzers are very important because they decide overall clearance of toxin molecules and at the same time should allow retaining useful molecules in the blood. In this paper, a cross sectional image of the dialyzer membrane with details of the porosity is presented. A multilayered membrane model with different porosity for each layer, describes the actual structure of Polyflux 210H membrane. This model is developed using Finite Element Software-COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3. A blood flow with substances like-Urea, Glucose, Endothelin, β2-Microglobulin, Complement Factor D and Albumin is introduced. For a certain blood flow rate, the toxins diffuse through the membrane and on the other side of the membrane a dialysate flow removes the toxins. Here, different parameters, such as flow rate of blood and dialysate, length and radius of the fiber are changed to simulate how these changes affect toxin clearance and the removal of useful molecules.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modeling and Simulation of Flow Regulatory Mechanism in Artificial Kidney Using Finite Element Method

“…Figures 7 and 8 show the variation in clearance rate with dialysate flow rate. A good agreement was found between the model-predicted and Islam et al in-silico results [22]. The trend of increase in clearance with dialysate flow is also validated by comparing with the Revaclear Max dialyzer experimental (reported in Bhimani et al [25]) and Donato et al in-silico results [21].…”

“…However, the model predicted values for diffusive transport of solute across the membrane are in good agreement with the Islam et al (in silico) results. In order to validate the proposed mathematical model, the model-predicted urea clearance rate was compared with Islam et al (in-silico) [22] and experimental data reported in the literature at increasing blood flow rates [23]. In Figure 4, the clearance rate of urea is compared with Polyflux 210H data provided by the manufacturer [23].…”

“…For model parameters, manufacturer data of Polyflux 210H (Gambro Dialysatoren GmbH, Germany, a subsidiary of Baxter International Inc.) was used and predicted clearance rate of different solutes were compared with Islam et al [22], Theranova 400 MCO AA (Gambro Dialysatoren GmbH, Germany, a subsidiary of Baxter International Inc.), Polyflux 210H [23] and FX CorDiax 80 (Fresenius Medical Care, Bad Homburg, Germany) [24]. The blood flow rate was varied from 300 to 500 mL/min keeping dialysate flow rate constant (Q D = 500 mL/min).…”

Evaluation of the Toxin-to-Protein Binding Rates during Hemodialysis Using Sorbent-Loaded Mixed-Matrix Membranes

“…By simultaneously solving Equations (27) and (28) we correlate the transport coefficients in each membrane layer to the corresponding effective membrane coefficients, and thus, can lead to the extraction of the unknown structural quantities for each layer:…”

“…On the grounds that HSA cannot transport through the membrane, the pore radius should be equal to or smaller than the HSA radius. In the literature, it was found that albumin effective radius is 3.4 nm [28]; however, albumin does not have a spherical shape. The minimum radius of this protein, R min is calculated by [29]:…”