ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the state of the art related to synthesis and engineering of polymeric latex particles for hemodialysis. The number of people with end stage renal disease (ESRD) is rapidly increasing in the United States with approximately 96,295 incident and 406,081 prevalent patients, including 292,215 on dialysis, and 113,866 with a functioning graft in 2001. It is projected that there will be more than 2.2 million ESRD patients by 2030. Dialysis for blood purification is widely used in the treatment of ESRD. Polysulfone (PSf) is a widely used membrane material for the hemodialysis application because of its thermal stability, mechanical strength, and chemical inertness. PSf membranes can be prepared by conventional immersion precipitation methods into many different shapes including porous hollow fiber or flat sheet hemodialysis membranes. The hydrophobic nature of the PSf causes serious complications through the activation of the complement alternative pathway leading to the adsorption of serum proteins onto the membranes.
