• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.376-383
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• 2008

High-flux dialysis treatment removes various toxins via diffusion as well as convection, which is induced by ultrafiltration and backfiltration. In this study, in vitro (Using the distilled water and the bovine's blood) comparison test was performed to determine whether utilization of a high flux dialyzer paired with different pumps would increase the efficiency of convection. At the same blood flow rates, a pulsatile pump and a roller pump were employed to propel the distilled water and bovine whole blood to a high flux dialyzer. Pressures at the dialyzer inlet and outlet in the blood circuit and in the dialysate circuit were measured, respectively. From these data, we calculated the transmembrane pressure and predicted the ultrafiltration and backfiltration rates developed by both pumps. Using the bovine's blood experiment, ultrafiltration and backfiltration rates were 1.6 times higher with the pulsatile pump than with the roller pump. We conclude that utilization of a pulsatile pump in high flux hemodialysis treatments increases ultrafiltration volume, compared with a roller pump under conditions of the same blood flow rate.