De Kunstmatige Nier (The Artificial Kidney)

Kolff, Willem Johan. De kunstmatige nier [The artificial kidney]. Uitgave J.H. Kok, N.V. Kampen, 1946.

4to [24,5 x 16 cm], original paper wrapper, title in blue ink on front wrapper, pp. [4], 200, text in Dutch with some summaries in English.

The beginning of haemodialysis

First edition of the commercial printing of Kolff’s Ph.D. dissertation on the construction of the artificial kidney and haemodialysis.

“This was his doctoral dissertation. There were two versions published. The first was designated Proefschrift and credited Kolff as Willem Johan Kolff on the title page. It indicated on the title page that Kolff defended the dissertation on January 16, 1946. The imprint of this edition read Drukkerij J. H. Kok N.V. Te Kampen [without a date.]

The other edition [offered here], published for commercial circulation, designated Kolff as Dr. W. J. Kolff on the title page and printed wrapper.” [Garrison-Morton, 11510].

"Pioneers of dialysis were regarded as mavericks, perhaps even dangerous men, by their colleagues for more than two decades. The first of these unusual men was a tenacious and talented Dutchman, Willem Johan Kolff […].

Together with Hendrik Berk, head of the local enamel factory and a practical engineer, he went on to design and construct a 'dialyser with a large surface area' whose design has become one of the icons of nephrology[…]. At the end of the war, Kolff published an expanded version of his thesis in a now classic monograph [offered here]" (Cameron, History of the Treatment of Renal Failure by Dialysis, pp. 74-80)

Kolff, Willem Johan (1911 – 2009) was a Dutch physician and inventor, a pioneer in the field of artificial organs.

He established the first blood bank in Europe, and devised a series of medical inventions, including an intra-aortic balloon pump for patients with acute cardiac failure.

Kolff and his team developed a series of artificial implantable hearts, each named after the member of the group responsible for that particular device. The model that eventually proved itself in patients was perfected by one of the young doctors in the team, Robert Jarvik. In December 1982, the first recipient of the new heart was a retired dentist named Barney Clark. He lived for almost four months.

Most notably, Kolff developed the first artificial kidney[, initially constructed using wooden drums, cellophane tubing, and laundry tubs, thus marking the beginning of haemodialysis. He successfully treated his first patient, Sofia Maria Schafstadt, a 67-year-old woman suffering from kidney failure, using his haemodialysis machine.

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In 1944, he published his discoveries on the artificial kidney in Acta Medica Scandinavica, and eventually, in 1946, published the present complete study, the first in the world, followed by the Swede Nils Alwall in 1947.

In the years immediately following the war, he shipped free dialysis machines to researchers in England, Canada, and the United States, completed his postgraduate work at Groningen, receiving his Ph.D. in internal medicine, continued his duties in Kampen, and lectured at the University of Leiden.

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In 1975, he introduced the Wearable Artificial Kidney, an eight-pound chest pack with an 18-pound auxiliary tank.

Over his long career, he published more than 600 papers and articles, and numerous books, including Artificial Organs. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985, and in 1990 was named by Life magazine in its list of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century.

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Condition: Light foxing along the text; overall a very good copy

References: Geoff Watts, Willem Johan Kolff, The Lancet, 2009; Cameron, History of the Treatment of Renal Failure by Dialysis, pp. 74-80; Garrison-Morton, 11510.