According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 300,00 people in the United States with kidney failure visit a clinic three or four days a week for four to six hours of dialysis. Imagine if these patients could have their blood cleansed of impurities while they slept in their own beds. In this podcast, Mr. Peter DeComo, a co-founder of Renal Solutions, Inc., describes an innovative dialysis system that people can use at home.

As we’ll hear from Mr. DeComo, Renal Solutions’ home dialysis system frees patients’ daylight hours and helps preserve their health because it provides gentle, efficient filtering at higher doses than traditional dialysis machines.

The Renal Solutions home dialysis system has FDA approval and will be available in early 2007.

Hosts Leah Kauffman and John Murphy. Interview by Leah Kauffman.

For more information about the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, visit:

McGowan Institute Research Site
McGowan Institute Patient Site
McGowan Institute on Facebook
McGowan Institute on Twitter

Our last podcast featured the bioengineer responsible for much of today’s artificial heart technology. Now meet Dr. Robert Kormos, a clinician who has used those artificial hearts to help people survive until donor hearts were available. Some patients even recovered enough heart function to eliminate the need for transplantation.

Dr. Kormos is the medical director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and director of the UPMC Artificial Heart Program. As the Artificial Heart Program celebrates its 20^th anniversary, patients of the program have been collectively sustained by their artificial hearts for more than 50 years. In this podcast, Dr. Kormos discusses the evolution of his program and the clinical use of artificial hearts, and he tells us how regenerative medicine will continue to transform the treatment of heart failure.

For more information about Dr. Kormos, click here.

For information on artificial heart treatments at UPMC, click here.

For information on heart device research at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, click here.

Hosts Leah Kauffman and John Murphy. Interview by Leah Kauffman.

For more information about the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, visit:

McGowan Institute Research Site
McGowan Institute Patient Site
McGowan Institute on Facebook

Twenty years ago, a pioneering team of clinicians and engineers had a vision to use a mechanical heart-assist device as an aid to a patient with a failing heart, and to ascertain if such a heart assist device could serve as a “bridge” for an ailing heart until a transplantable organ became available.

While the team consisted of many diverse disciplines, the lead biomedical engineer was Dr. Harvey Borovetz.  In this interview, Dr. Borovetz provides a retrospective look at the initial days of what has become a relatively routine clinical procedure to support a weakened heart with a ventricular assist device until a heart transplant can be implemented. Dr. Borovetz shares the progress that has been made in the engineering as well as the clinical procedures.

He also provides a glimpse at the future, sharing his vision on the emerging technology development that he is leading to provide equivalent cardiac care for infants and children.

For more information, the following web sites may be of interest:

• Medical Device and Artificial Organ Research
• Pediatric Circulatory Support
• Patient Focused Topics

Hosts Leah Kauffman and John Murphy. Interview by Leah Kauffman.

For more information about the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, visit:

McGowan Institute Research Site
McGowan Institute Patient Site
McGowan Institute on Facebook