Fresenius SE

History of Dialysis

1913
John J. Abel at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore develops a dialysis system together with colleagues and tests it on animals.

1926
For the first time, German physician Georg Haas dialyzes patients with acute renal failure in Giessen, Germany. Although the therapeutic approach is correct, the patients die because the equipment was not able yet to attain sufficient results.

1945
Dutchman Willem Kolff achieves a breakthrough when a patient with acute renal failure survives therapy for the first time.
1960
The first long-term patient with chronic renal failure begins hemodialysis treatment. It allows American Clyde Shields to live for 11 years before dying from a heart attack in 1971. Because treatment costs are still extremely high at the time, a committee, which remains anonymous to this day, selects dialysis patients from a pool of candidates requiring treatment in the United States.
1966
The first hollow-fiber dialyzers create decisive advances in the quality of treatment. The present Chairman of the Management Board of Fresenius Medical Care, Dr. Ben Lipps, was an active contributor to these advances. The industrial production of dialyzers by the American company Cordis Dow at the end of the 1960s significantly reduces treatment costs and gives access to a once-exclusive treatment method to more and more kidney patients.

1979
Fresenius introduces a novel dialysis system with ultrafiltration control. The machine allows reliable monitoring of the amount of fluid removed during dialysis, significantly improving treatment quality and setting standards for dialysis treatment that are still in place today.

1995 to 1998
ONLINE HDF (HDF = Hemodiafiltration) makes the highly effective and gentle HDF treatment available to a wide range of patients.

2005
With Fresenius Medical Care's new 5008 therapy system, ONLINE HDF is widely available for the first time. The system is easy to operate and allows for the efficient use of resources such as water and electricity.

2006
In January, Fresenius Medical Care wins the 26th German Business Innovation Award for its 5008 therapy system. In the same year, the company acquires Renal Care Group, the third largest dialysis provider in the United States, as well as Nabi Biopharmaceutical's phosphate binder business.

For more information about kidney patient care, please visit the UltraCare website of Fresenius Medical Care North America.
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