Favorable effects of newly developed hollow fiber with fin on dialysis efficiency

Abstract

In order to prevent the suppressive effects of mal-distribution of dialysate on dialysis efficacy, we developed new hollow fiber (HF), outer surface of which had equally distributed six fins. By the use of urea as a model solute, the dialyser composed of HF with fin showed 78% decrease in dialysate side resistance (RD), and 29% increase in overall mass transfer coeffecient (K_A) compared to those of dialyser without fin. The elevation of K_A with the increase in dialysate flow rate was significantly high in the dialyser without fin compared to that with fin. These results indicate that the increase in K_A observed in newly developed HF with fin may be mainly induced by the improvement in the mal-distribution of dialysate, in other words by the increase in the effective membrane surface area.