Kidney Dialysis

• Properly functioning kidneys prevents extra water, waste, and other impurities from accumulating in body. They also help in controlling blood pressure and regulate the levels of chemicals in the blood, such as sodium, or salt, and potassium. They even activate a form of vitamin D that improves the absorption of calcium. When kidneys are not able to perform these functions due to disease or injury, dialysis artificially cleans the blood and helps keep the body running as normally as possible. Without dialysis, salts and other waste products will accumulate in the blood and poison the body.

• Dialysis is done by using a special fluid called dialysate. Dialysate is a mixture of pure water and chemicals, is carefully controlled to pull wastes out of your blood without removing substances that your body needs
• A semipermeable membrane (one with microscopic holes that allow only certain types of particles to pass through) keeps the blood apart from the dialysate. This membrane lets the wastes and fluid in your blood flow through into the dialysate
• Your blood cells and larger molecules, like protein that you need, does not pass through the membrane and are retained in the body

Hemodialysis

• It uses a machine and a filter to remove waste products and water from the blood,
• During hemodialysis, blood passes from the patient's body to the dialysis machine through sterile tubing and into a filter, called a dialysis membrane
• For this procedure, the patient has a specialized vascular tube placed between an artery and a vein in the arm or leg (called a gortex graft). Sometimes, a direct connection is made between an artery and a vein in the arm (this procedure is called a Cimino fistula).
• Needles are then placed in the graft or fistula, and blood passes to the dialysis machine, through the filter, and back to the patient
• If the patient requires dialysis before a graft or a fistula is placed, a large diameter catheter (hemodialysis catheter) is placed directly into a large vein in the neck or leg in order to perform dialysis
• In the dialysis machine, a solution on the other side of the filter receives the waste products from the patientCardiovascular diseases

Peritoneal Dialysis

• Peritoneal dialysisuses a fluid (dialysate) that is placed into the patient's abdominal cavity through a plastic tube (peritoneal dialysis catheter) to remove excess waste products and fluid from the body
• It uses the patient’s own body tissues inside of the belly (abdominal cavity) to act as the filter
• The abdominal cavity is lined with a special membrane called the peritoneal membrane
• A plastic tube called a peritoneal dialysis catheter is placed through the abdominal wall into the abdominal cavity
• A special fluid called dialysate is then flushed into the abdominal cavity and washes around the intestines
• The peritoneal membrane acts as a filter between this fluid and the blood stream. By using different types of solutions, waste products and excess water can be removed from the body through this process

• https://www.healthline.com/health/dialysis#how-it-works
• https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dialysis/
• https://www.medicinenet.com/dialysis/article.htm#how_can_patients_learn_more_about_dialysis
• https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/dialysisinfo
• https://www.davita.com/kidney-disease/vocabulary/dialysis/e/5400

Kidney Dialysis