The Singapore company Awak Technologies Pte. Ltd. are currently testing a portable peritoneal dialysis unit. There have been many reports of such devices over the last two or three years, but this one looks a bit further along the road than most. The unit has a pump and battery which are connected to a dialysate pack. The video below gives an explanation of the devices (there will be a short advert first however), and you can read more at The Wall Street Journal or at AWAK's own web site.
The spent dialysate is continuously regenerated from the AWAK unit and reused in perpetuity. This is a bit different to normal peritoneal dialysis, where the entire dialysate is replace and the spent solution discarded
It is currently undergoing animal testing in Singapore, in preparation for clinical testing in the U.S., Germany and Singapore.
The company has won an innovation award for their work on this device.
This could be a real bonus for some dialysis patients, giving them much more freedom as they can continuously "top up" on their treatment more conveniently than with standard peritoneal dialysis.
