Influence of ultrasound on the clearance of toxic substances from Polysulfone hollow fiber membrane used in a dialyzer filter

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of high frequency ultrasound for the cleaning of a Polysulfone (PSU) ultrafiltration membrane used in hemodialysis. The blood substitute solution flowing through the hollow fiber membrane used in the High Flux F60 dialyzers has been sonicated by ultrasonic (US) waves with 1 MHz frequency and 2 W/cm2 in situ intensity. The solution was comprised of toxic compounds such as Urea, Creatinine, Vitamin B12 and Inulin. The effect of US was represented by comparison of the clearance in both OFF and ON ultrasound conditions. The results of these studies have been demonstrated that US can enhance the permeability of the PSU dialyzer membrane. Results revealed that US had significant effect (p-value ˂ 0.05) on the clearance of Inulin as a large molecule (5200 D) and accelerated its filtration by 28%. The proposed dialysis method can be used alongside the existing dialysis machine.