artificial kidney

plural artificial kidneys

1. A dialysis machine, an external device that cleans the blood of people with kidney failure; from the 1940s to the 2000s, not portable, but wearable versions now exist.

   An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

   2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)

2. An implantable bionic device to replace the function of a natural kidney, long dreamed of but not yet feasible.
3. A bioengineered (laboratory-grown) biologic kidney (from cultured cells), still experimental.

   Synonyms: kidney machine