Predicting the Impact of Dialyzer Choice and Binder Dialysate Flow Rate on Bilirubin Removal

Liver failure is the 12th leading cause of death worldwide. Protein bound toxins such as bilirubin are responsible for many complications of the disease. Binder dialysis systems use albumin dialysate and detoxifying sorbent columns to remove these toxins. Systems like the Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System (MARS) and BioLogic-DT have existed since the 1990s, but survival benefit in randomized controlled trials have not been consistent. Thus, a new generation of binder dialysis systems, including Open Albumin Dialysis (OPAL) and the Advanced Multi-Organ Replacement System (AMOR) are being developed. Optimal conditions for binder dialysis have not been established. We developed and validated a computational model of bound solute dialysis using established thermodynamic theories. Our objective is to improve AMOR therapy. We confirmed our models validity by predicting the impact of changing between two benchtop dialysis setups using different polysulfone dialyzers (F3 and F6HPS). We then applied it to predict the impact of varying dialysate flow rate on toxin removal. We found that bilirubin removal is independent of dialysate flow rate within the clinically relevant range (20 mL/min - 800 mL/min), matching our models predictions. At very low dialysate flow rates (2 mL/min), bilirubin removal declines, deviating from the thermodynamic model. This model may be useful to achieving optimal clinical outcomes by setting optimal dialyzer and flow rate conditions. Further improvement is possible by accounting for toxin adsorption onto the dialyzer membrane.