Artificial kidney, 1946
Inv. V03800

This artificial kidney was developed at the end of the Second World War by the Dutchman W.J. Kolff. In a barn in Kampen he had a modest laboratory where he worked on his invention. He devised the apparatus to be able to help people with kidney diseases. The kidneys ensure that waste products leave the body via the urine. The operating principle of the artificial kidney is in fact nothing but a rolled-up flat hose with microscopically small holes through which a patient's blood flows. This hose is passed through a substance which separates waste substances from the blood. The purified blood is left behind and recirculated through the body.