This year the Royal Victoria Hospital celebrates 70th anniversary of first artificial kidney in Montreal

Dialysis treatments have been available in Montreal for 70 years.

Dr. Willem Kolff, invented the artificial kidney during the Second World War in Nazi-occupied Holland, hiding from the Nazis by working at night in an enamel works factory.
His first 16 patients all died, but the 17th patient he treated for kidney failure survived. This one, named Sophia Schafstadt, is famous for saying “If I survive, I’m going to divorce”, which she did.
Once the war was over, Dr. Kolff wanted to share his invention with the world by sending devices to five major cities, including Montreal.

“He never patented it and gave his plans for free,” says Dr. Mort Levy about the original wooden machine.

In Montreal, a student of Dr. Kolff who came to work at the Royal Victoria Hospital performed the first dialysis on February 23, 1948. It was the third in the country, after Toronto and Vancouver.  Today, the McGill University Health Center treats approximately 40,000 dialysis treatments per year.
Dialysis removes waste and excess water from the blood and is the only treatment available for patients whose kidneys are unable to do so. Kidney disease affects one in ten Canadians according to the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Source TVA News