Monday, January 28, 2013

How Does Dialysis Work

Dialysis is the process of cleaning waste products from the blood when the kidneys fail. Without dialysis, all patients with kidney failure would die from the buildup of toxins in the bloodstream. Presently there are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.


Hemodialysis


Hemodialysis is the most common form of dialysis. It involves being connected to a dialysis machine, sometimes called an artificial kidney, where the patient's blood is extracted from their body, passed through the machine, cleaned and returned. The process uses a fluid called dialysate to remove the waste from the blood. Both the blood and the dialysate are pumped through the machine. The blood never touches the dialysate. Waste is passed from the blood to the dialysate through a series of membranes within the machine. The dialysate removes the waste and the clean blood returns to the body.


Peritoneal Dialysis








Peritoneal dialysis uses a silicon tube inserted into the abdominal cavity. A liquid called dialysis solution is passed through the tube into the abdominal cavity where it remains for a period of time, usually 30 to 40 minutes. Waste from the blood is passed through the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity called the peritoneum. The waste is collected by the fluid and drained from the peritoneal cavity through the same tube and discarded.

Tags: from blood, abdominal cavity, passed through, blood dialysate, into abdominal, into abdominal cavity, through machine