Biocompatibility and membrane development.
Development of new biocompatible membranes for clinical application needs the expertise of various specialists, chemists, chemical engineers, and clinicians. As the biocompatibility of a membrane cannot be considered in terms of a single biochemical pathway, due to the interrelation between the complement, coagulation, and inflammatory systems, it is difficult to achieve optimal results with one single polymer. A compromise between different approaches has therefore to be found. Membrane development also needs sophisticated test systems, which simulate the clinical situation as closely as possible. Adequate results are achieved with the 'ex vivo' model, which represents open-loop haemodialysis. The ex vivo model gives good results which are close to those from clinical experiments.