Patients with kidney failure are in survival mode while waiting for a kidney transplant. This can take up to three years, during which patients have to go to the hospital three times a week for dialysis to clean their blood. A tedious process, but essential for their survival. To make this therapy more bearable, Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Stamatialis developed a new filter for improved blood purification. Together with Michel Simons, he founded UT spin-off M3Nephron to change the lives of kidney patients.
Kidney failure is one of the most common chronic illnesses worldwide. Yet, the current situation for kidney patients is dire. Their weeks consist of going to the hospital three times for dialysis. “Imagine this,” says Dimitrios. “A kidney patient goes to the hospital, where they connect them to the dialysis machine. It takes around three to four hours for the therapy to remove the toxins and the excess fluids. Afterwards, they have to wait for a bit to reach a stable condition before they can go home. So before the treatment, they felt sick because of the toxins, but afterwards, they still feel sick because of the high removal of the toxins and fluid imbalance. And two days later, it’s the same thing all over again.”
That is a huge strain on their personal lives, but also on society as a whole. Michel adds: “There are approximately 4 million people worldwide who try to survive like this, and yet their mortality remains high. Their lives are on hold because they cannot work anymore. Furthermore, treatment costs between €80,000 and €120,000 a year per patient. You can imagine the strain this has on health care and society as a whole.”
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