Stanley Shaldon (8 November 1931 – 20 December 2013) was a British

nephrologist 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 ...

who pioneered several techniques in

haemodialysis Hemodialysis, 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 dialysis achieves the extracorporeal removal of waste products such as c ...

, including venous access, reuse of dialysis machines, and home haemodialysis.

Life and career

Shaldon was born in 1931 in London into a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

family; the family name was changed from Schlaff to Shaldon in 1943 during the Second World War. He attended

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

before studying medicine at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

and

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

, completing his studies in 1955. He trained in internal medicine at Middlesex Hospital and

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...

, and from 1957 to 1959 he served at a military hospital in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria as a medical specialist. Upon his return to the UK from Lagos, Shaldon studied

cardiac catheterisation Cardiac catheterization (heart cath) is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart. This is done both for diagnostic and interventional purposes. A common example of cardiac catheterization is coronary catheterization tha ...

techniques under Sir

John McMichael John McMichael (9 January 1948 – 22 December 1987) was a Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent and charismatic figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfa ...

and wrote a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

thesis on the

splanchnic Splanchnic is usually used to describe organs in the abdominal cavity. It is used when describing: * Splanchnic tissue * Splanchnic organs - including the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, spleen, liver, and may also include the ...

circulation. His thesis was supervised by Dame

Sheila Sherlock Dame Sheila Patricia Violet Sherlock (31 March 1918 – 30 December 2001) was a British physician and medical educator who is considered the major 20th-century contributor to the field of hepatology (the study of the liver). Early life Sheila S ...

and won Cambridge's

Raymond Horton-Smith Prize The Raymond Horton-Smith Prize is a prize awarded by the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge for the best thesis presented for MD degree during the academical year. Known as the prize for the best MD of the year, it should be awar ...

. Shaldon would go on to work with Sherlock for six years from 1960 at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barnet Ho ...

, London, after Sherlock appointed him a lecturer in medicine and the head of a new

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 ...

unit. Shaldon pioneered the use of

to manage

renal 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 ...

, by designing

central venous catheter A central venous catheter (CVC), also known as a central line (c-line), central venous line, or central venous access catheter, is a catheter placed into a large vein. It is a form of venous access. Placement of larger catheters in more centr ...

s that could remain in situ within a patient's

femoral vein In the human body, the femoral vein is the vein that accompanies the femoral artery in the femoral sheath. It is a deep vein that begins at the adductor hiatus (an opening in the adductor magnus muscle) as the continuation of the popliteal v ...

to allow daily dialysis sessions; these were known at the time as "Shaldon catheters". This invention made chronic haemodialysis feasible and established the thrice-weekly haemodialysis routine that remains standard practice. He also promoted the reuse of dialysis machines, which upset manufacturers, as well as home haemodialysis, allowing patients to self-dialyse at home. He left the Royal Free Hospital in 1966 to establish the National Kidney Centre in London, where chronic haemodialysis patients were trained in home dialysis. He later left the UK for mainland Europe and the United States, working throughout France, Germany and Sweden at various centres. Shaldon was one of the founders of the European Renal Association, and received their ERA-EDTA Award in 2011. He authored more than 350 publications over the course of his career. In his retirement, he settled in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

, where he died in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaldon, Stanley 1931 births 2013 deaths British nephrologists Physicians of the Royal Free Hospital Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians People educated at University College School British emigrants to Monaco Academics from London