Editorial

We congratulate Dr. Shuvo Roy for his brilliant research. Dr. Roy and his team at the University of California have made a very important discovery, eliminating the need for dialysis, though more research has to be performed now on human beings.

This artificial kidney has only the size of a coffee cup and can be implanted inside the body. This can mimic the functions of the real kidney such as filtering the toxins from the blood stream, produce vitamin D and also regulate the blood pressure.

This also avoids the kidney transplantation. The Man-made kidney has a silicon membrane which filters the blood to remove the toxins-These toxins pass as waste to the bladder.

Further, a bed of kidney cells regulate the chemical balance of the blood. The bed of kidney cells are grown by tissue culture. Now stem-cell research and tissue culture have come to stay. This will also eliminate kidney donation with its questionable ethics. It is difficult to find out whether the donation is voluntary and if it is voluntary whether it is only for monitory considerations.

The large number of persons in India who are in need of dialysis as well as lakhs of person who are in dire need of kidney transplantation will find this method a real boon. Another advantage of this method is that it does not need batteries and pumps.

Given the skill and the research bent of mind of our doctors in well-known hospitals in India, we are sure that various improvements will be made in our methods of research also.