| [ Summary ] |
Contact between blood and membrane materials in hemodialyzers brings about several reactions in the human body, including activation of platelet, coagulation, the kallikrein-kinin system, the complement systems, as well as others. The biocompatibility of dialysis membranes was originally proposed as a concept to determine the safety of membrane materials based on harmful reactions in the human body induced by the contact between blood and membrane materials during hemodialysis. However, since many other factors such as sterilization methods, dialysate contamination and non-physiological dialysate composition also affect biological reactions induced by dialysis. Therefore, biocompatibility is now considered to be a factor used to determine the overall safety of blood purification therapy based on physical reactions induced by extracorporeal circulation. In hemodialysis patients, it has been reported that biocompatibility provides significantly improved effects not only in the short term but also in terms of long term complications. As a result, biocompatibility is considered to be an important factor in determining prognoses for dialysis patients. A great deal of effort has been paid to developing dialyzers with better biocompatibility. However, further investigation is required to fully resolve problems resulting from bioincompatibility. |