Introduction Are you interested in medicine and science? If so, there are many different branches of health care that are essential to know. However, if you take special interest in hemodialysis and artificial organs, the accomplishments and findings of the legendary Willem Kolff would be significant to learn. Many of his discoveries are still used to day by numerous amounts of surgeons and physicians.
Background information Willem Johan Kolff was born in (February 11, 1911) the Leiden Netherlands. Kolff was the eldest of 5 boys. At his youth Kolff decided to follow his father’s footsteps, which was to be a well respected physician. In 1934 he pursued medical studies at the Leiden University for two years. While at the university he
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Kolff being quite creative used wooden drums, cell phone tubing, and laundry tubes to create an apparatus that drew patients’ blood. The apparatus then cleansed toxins from the blood that transported the blood back into the patient. Sadly, the first 15 patients’ only survived a couple days off the machine that introduced hemodylsis. Kolff wasn’t discouraged by this; it only stimulated him to prolong patient’s lives longer.
Determined by overstepping so many boundaries already, Kolff improved his hemodylsis machine and was ready to defeat renal kidney failure once again. In 1945, a disliked Nazi woman was in need of hemodylis treatment (Academy of Achievement, n.d.). Although many people wanted Kolff to let her die, he did all he could as a doctor. Ultimately, Kolff’s hemodylsis machine saved her life. Wanting to help others in need, Kolff shipped his hemodylsis machines to the United States, and also to Canada.
In 1946 Kolff completed his postgraduate studies at Groningen and received a P.h.D in medicine (Pegels, 2010). Accomplishing so many things, many physicians and researchers took great interest in Kolff. He was then invited to join the research staff of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in the United States (Academy of Achievement, n.d.). Accepting this invitation he became an American citizen in 1956. While at the Cleveland Clinic, Kolff started to study the cardiovascular system and developed one of the first heart apparatuses. This development
After graduating college in 1926, Charles Drew was later on enrolled to a medical school-McGill University- in Montreal, Canada, 1928. After studying in several colleges in Canada, Charles Drew returned to the United States and, in 1938, he went to Columbia University where Charles Drew continued exploring blood-related matters. It was there where Charles Drew discovered to process and preserve blood without its cells or plasma in it. Because of this new thesis and method he created, Charles Drew received his doctorate degree in 1940, and a degree in Doctor of Medical Science. During the late 1940’s, Charles Drew was recruited by a medical doctor, John Shudder, to set up a program where donors could donate their blood, and it will be preserved
Rebecca Jemmett and Pamela Peacock stated in an article called “Medical Contributions of The Great War: Blood Transfusion”, that the first known blood transfusion took place after British physician William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood in 1628. “From that time until World War One, blood transfusions were practiced on humans, dogs, and other animals.” With this achievement, it leads to more ways blood transfusions can be proved useful like animal to animal and animal to person blood transfusions. Blood transfusions have now become more common as a result of the horrors of the First World War. New discoveries and the magnified demand for the practice propelled the procedure forward as time
A revolution in medicine began in the 16th century. During this time Andreas Vesalius and William Harvey added to the understanding of human anatomy. By dissecting human bodies at the University of Padua, Vesalius described the individual organs and general structure
| Weaknesses * < 40% of the blood collections in ROW were done using evacuated tubes
Karl Landsteiner was born on June 14, 1868 in Austria-Hungary. He was then raised by his mother, who got him interested in science. In 1916, Landsteiner married Helen Wlatso. Together they had a son known today as Dr. E. Landsteiner. On June 26, 1943, Landsteiner suffered a heart attack while working in his lab. He was rushed to the hospital but died later that day. He was seventy five years old. Landsteiner accomplished many things while he was alive, he also made some very critical discoveries. In 1901, Landsteiner wanted to help those who could possibly die from blood transfusion. He wanted to find a way for others to give blood without harming the other individual. With many trial and error experiments he realized that mixing certain individuals
One of the greatest breakthroughs in medicine occurred in the late eighteenth with the discovery of Louis Pasteur and his experiments regarding the growth of bacteria and their ability to travel from place to place. After countless years of research and analyzation, Pasteur used his findings to develop pasteurization (Haigh). Pasteurization is a process which involves heating certain liquids to kill bacteria and prevent fermentation. Pasteur also developed an anthrax vaccine along with a way to weaken the effects of the rabies virus. Using the work of Pasteur another scientist by the name of Joseph Lister developed antisepsis, a way of killing disease-causing germs. In 1865 before an operation, Lister cleaned a leg wound with carbolic acid and performed the surgical procedure with heated instruments, heating the instruments sterilized them (Gieson). The patient in question would have needed an amputation if it was not for Lister sterilizing medical instruments and the surgical field. Eventually, Lister incorporated the use of sterilization in all of his surgical procedures, decreasing the amount of postoperative mortality. The use of antiseptics did not just reduce postoperative mortality it also helped out in the treatment of wounds and making childbirth a less risky process for both women and their children.
discovered a new disease. This was in the late 1880’s when many new diseases were
A vascular access is a hemodialysis patient’s lifeline. A vascular access makes life-saving hemodialysis treatments possible. Hemodialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that uses a machine to send the patient’s blood through a filter, called a dialyzer, outside the body. The access is a surgically created vein used to remove and return blood during hemodialysis. The blood goes through a needle, a few ounces at a time. The blood then travels through a tube that takes it to the dialyzer. Inside the dialyzer, the blood flows through thin fibers that filter out wastes and extra fluid. The machine returns the filtered blood to the body through a different tube. A vascular access lets large amounts of blood flow continuously during hemodialysis
Otto Fritz Meyerhof's story is very inspiring to me. His love for science and the works he put in is unlimited. What surprised me most is that his inspiration for the field is science was influenced by reading the work of Goethe. Meyerhof did not let his kidney trouble to prevent him from entering the medical field. I truly believe that his sickness played a huge role in his decision and interest in medicine. His highest finding happened when he was examining the contraction of a frog muscle. This intrigued me to learn that Meyerhof was able to understand the concept of how muscle works by examining a frog. Moreover, he was able to demonstrate and proved that this the depletion of glycogen in muscle cell can occur with or without oxygen. His
In 1900, Karl Landsteiner discovered why some blood transfusions were successful while others could be deadly and some could result on some serious symptoms. He also discovered the ABO blood group system by mixing the red blood cells and serum of each of his staff. He has been credited for this discovery because
Blood: Currently being used by you, this fluid circulates through our veins, while nourishing our bodies and helping us develop. Blood, however, isn’t always the best option in times of crisis, we are now grateful to have blood plasma. “The father of the blood bank” went through many struggles to thoroughly refine the idea of medicine by pioneering blood plasma. Due to the life-changing discovery of blood plasma, world-renowned, African-American surgeon Charles Drew saved thousands of lives during World War II and revolutionized modern medicine.
Dialysis is a procedure that replaces some of the work healthy kidneys do. It is done when you lose about 85–90% of your kidney function. It may also be done earlier if your symptoms may be improved by dialysis. During dialysis, wastes, salt, and extra water are removed from the blood, and the levels of certain chemicals in the blood (such as potassium) are maintained. Dialysis is done in sessions. Dialysis sessions are continued until the kidneys get better. If the kidneys cannot get better, such as in end-stage kidney disease, dialysis is continued for life or until you receive a new kidney (kidney transplant). There are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
William Harvey was a distinguished physician of the seventeenth century. Harvey was educated by some of the great scientists of his time and was highly knowledgeable of the scientist theories preceding his time. Harvey was greatly intrigued by the views of the ancient Aristotle and developed a number of his own ideas based on Aristotle’s theories. It was from Aristotle’s theory of the primacy of blood that allowed Harvey to make breakthroughs about circulation and generation of animals. His advancements greatly enhanced the study of anatomy. Harvey also revolutionized the means by which science was performed through the use of innovative, investigational techniques. William Harvey became a
Available became controversial. While the question of the dialysis machine is still controversial, the health system was caught in another ethical dilemma regarding organ transplantation. Organ transplantation is closely linked to the issue of cleanliness because patients with kidney failure can get an organ transplant as an alternative to hemodialysis. The issue is complicated by the fact Medicare is financed by organ transplant, and there are those who believe that the distribution of rare transplant is not right. There are thousands of terminal patients whose lives can be saved by organ transplantation, but there are no formulas of work that can be used to determine which of the thousands of patients will be given priority. It is left to the discretion of medical officers to decide who is worth saving. The ability to keep someone alive by replacing one or more of their major organs is a splendid achievement of medicine of the 20th century.
alements. He also pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. Also there was a huge,