Nils Alwall (October 7, 1904 – February 2, 1986) was a Swedish

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at Lund University, Sweden. He was a pioneer in

hemodialysis Hemodialysis, American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, also spelled haemodialysis, or simply ''"'dialysis'"'', is a process of filtering the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally. This type of Kidney dialys ...

and the inventor of one of the first practical dialysis machines. Alwall pioneered the technique of

ultrafiltration Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces such as pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in t ...

and introduced the principle of hemofiltration. Alwall is referred to as the "father of extracorporeal blood treatment."

Artificial kidney

Willem Johan Kolff Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff (February 14, 1911 – February 11, 2009) was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch patrician fa ...

constructed the first artificial kidney; however, it was not very useful clinically because it did not allow for removal of excess fluid. Alwall modified a similar construction to the Kolff kidney by enclosing it inside a stainless steel canister. This allowed the removal of fluids, by applying a negative pressure to the outside canister, thus making it the first truly practical device for hemodialysis. On September 3, 1946, Alwall treated his first patient in

acute kidney injury Acute kidney injury (AKI), previously called acute renal failure (ARF), is a sudden decrease in renal function, kidney function that develops within seven days, as shown by an increase in serum creatinine or a decrease in urine output, or both. ...

, who responded well to the treatment but died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

a short while after. Alwall also was arguably the inventor of the arteriovenous shunt for dialysis. He reported this first in 1948, where he used such an arteriovenous shunt in rabbits. Subsequently, he used such shunts, made of glass, as well as his canister-enclosed dialyzer, to treat 1,500 people in

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

between 1946 and 1960, as reported to the First International Congress of

Nephrology Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

held in Evian in September 1960. As of 2007, two patients for which kidney replacement therapy was initiated by Alwall in 1968 and 1971, respectively, have survived for over 35 years on hemodialysis. These patients represent two of the longest known survivors on hemodialysis worldwide.

Later life

Alwall was appointed to the newly created Chair of Nephrology at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in 1957. Subsequently, he collaborated with Swedish businessman Holger Crafoord to found one of the key companies that would manufacture dialysis equipment for several decades, Gambro, Inc.

Nils Alwall Prize

In honor of Alwall's advancements and achievements, the Nils Alwall Prize is awarded every year for "Groundbreaking research in the field of kidney replacement therapy."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alwall, Nils 1904 births 1986 deaths Swedish nephrologists Academic staff of Lund University People from Kristianstad Municipality 20th-century Swedish inventors