Prospects for a bioartificial kidney.

The developing technologies of cell therapy and tissue engineering may, in the next two decades, provide alternatives to current methods of renal replacement therapy. First, suitable organs for xenotransplantation from animals to humans may be developed, or second, as described in this report, application of tissue engineering may result in development of a range of devices to aid care of patients with renal failure. The simplest and easiest achievable devices could replace a specific aspect of renal function, such as an implantable device to produce erythropoietin. Both a bioartificial hemofilter and a renal tubule device may be developed. Ultimately this work may result in an implantable bioartificial kidney.