POINT1 What is a kidney?

The kidneys are located above the waist and one on the left and right inside the dorsal muscles.
They have a shape of broad beans, which are as big as a fist in the case of adults, and the weight of one piece is 120 to 150 g. The kidney has the function of excreting waste products and electrolytes such as excessive salt generated in the body to maintain the amount of body fluid, such as blood, and their components. Furthermore, it secretes the hormone that adjusts blood pressure, as well as the hormone for creating blood, and helps the operation of vitamin D, which is necessary to strengthen bones.

POINT2 What is acute kidney injury?

Acute kidney injury is a state in which kidney function precipitously (hour or day) declines caused from temporary decrease in blood flow due to surgery, external injury, hemorrhagic shock, cardiac failure, hepatic failure, etc., inflammation in the kidney due to an allergic drug reaction or infection such as a septic condition, etc., or toxicity of metabolites by other diseases. Although acute kidney injury can be restored, it sometimes becomes precipitously worse if these causes are not removed. Therefore, both medical treatments for the causes and control kidney function are performed until restoring are performed.

POINT3 What is blood purification?

This is a treatment method in which blood is withdrawn from the body (extracorporeal circulation), to remove cytokines from blood or the balance of electrolytes by dialysis, filtering, absorption, etc., and the purified blood is returned to the body.

POINT4 What is CRRT (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy)?

This is a medical treatment frequently performed when kidney function is precipitously lowered (acute kidney injury), and for highly severe clinical conditions such as hepatic failure after surgery, severe acute pancreatitis, fulminant hepatitis, etc. When kidney function is precipitously lowered, recovery can be expected by removing the cause.

Mainly in such cases, CRRT is used temporarily as an alternative to the kidney function such as for removal of waste products in blood, fluid removal etc., and for removal of poisonous constituents and harmful substances that result in precipitous lowering of kidney function.

Since it is mainly used for highly severe patients, it is necessary to perform treatment gradually and slowly over time so as not to change the concentration and circulation blood volume, as well as blood pressure precipitously. It generally takes twenty-four hours or more per treatment. This is a medical treatment that is mainly performed in the ICU (intensive-care unit), CCU (coronary care unit), or Emergency Medical Center.

POINT5 About CRRT business

Presently, Nikkiso is selling CRRT equipment, consumables, and dialysate, mainly in Europe and China. CRRT has become an indispensable treatment method for control of severely ill patients, and number of cases are continuously increasing worldwide. We are aiming to spread our products all over the world.