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Hundreds of local stories in the development of dialysis
Illustrated in 1960s Augusta, Georgia An account at the coincidence of racial desegregation and the first hints of feasibility of long term dialysis and transplantation. George Van Giesen and Maytag washing machine (with permission of the author). George Van Giesen entered private practice in Augusta in 1963 from a two-year nephrology/metabolic fellowship in Dallas under…
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The record holders
A few patients have been on renal replacement therapy for over 45 years The Royal Free programmeThis photograph of ‘The Lucky Thirteen’ taken in 1965 shows patients treated at the UK’s first centre for long-term dialysis at the Royal Free Hospital, London, with their consultant Dr Stanley Shaldon (centre, front row). Olga Hepple, left of…
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Peritoneal dialysis becomes a treatment for endstage renal disease
Many small improvements Peritoneal dialysis (PD) for endstage renal failure was first given as intermittent intensive treatments (IPD) given continuously for 1-2 days once weekly. Patients would generally have a new rigid PD catheter inserted each week under local anaesthetic, be treated for up to 48h, then receive no dialysis for 5 days. Its first…
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The unsung story of early peritoneal dialysis
The first successful mode of dialysis for acute renal failure and still not replaced The beginnings of haemodialysis have been described many times, but the first successful peritoneal dialysis probably antedated the first successful haemodialysis by 7 years. Peritoneal dialysis was undertaken alongside haemodialysis in most renal units from the early 1960s, but also in…