[Historical archives of Italian nephrology: Introduction of the artificial kidney in Italy].

In Italy the first attempts at haemodialysis, first in vitro and animals and then in humans, were carried out in the early 1950s by the surgeons Mario Battezzati e Carlo Taddei of Genoa with an artificial kidney of their own design. During the same years several other surgeons and urologists in Padua, Milan, Turin, Florence, Modena, Rome, Naples and Palermo designed their own artificial kidneys, which were used to treat anuric patients suffering from acute renal failure. The lively interest in artificial kidneys led, in 1954, to the organisation of a symposium on the subject. This was the first symposium of its kind not only in Italy but also at European level and was characterised by a wide discussion on all aspects associated with extracorporeal dialysis. In subsequent years the use of artificial kidneys continued to develop in several of the above-mentioned Italian centres, something that in the early 1960s led to the introduction of chronic haemodialysis. This paper shows how in Italy the use of artificial kidneys was characterised by intense experimental and clinical activity as well as original approaches to the many problems associated with the use of this technique.