Belding H. ScribnerBorn 18 Jan 1921; died 19 Jun 2003 at age 82.Belding Hibbard Scribner was an American physician who invented the Scribner shunt, making long-term kidney dialysis possible. The dialysis machine, which filters the blood of kidney disease patients, as originally developed by Dr. Willem J. Kolff, used glass tubes that were inserted into veins and arteries. These were painful and could not be used indefinitely because of progressive damage to the blood vessels. Scribner's key contribution (1960) was the shunt, a device implanted in a patient that allowed doctors to tap into their blood vessels and keep them on dialysis indefinitely. Scribner also led a team that developed the “artificial gut,”a method using a catheter to provide nourishment to patients who have lost their stomachs and intestines. |
