Dialysis is a treatment done for patients with kidney failure. It helps the body get rid of toxins, waste products and excess fluids by filtering them out of the blood. How does Dialysis work? When the kidneys fail, dialysis keeps your body in balance by- ● removing the waste products, salt and extra water to prevent them from building up in the body ● keeping a safe level of certain chemicals in your blood, such as potassium, sodium and bicarbonate ● helping to control blood pressure When is Dialysis done? Dialysis treatment is done once a patient develops end stage kidney failure. It is marked by loss of nearly 85 to 90 percent of kidney function resulting in Glomerular Filtration Rate, GFR of less than 15. Where is Dialysis done? Dialysis is done in a hospital, in a dialysis unit under expert supervision of doctors and nurses. In rare cases, a unit is set up at home when a patient is unable to visit the hospital. What are types of Dialysis? There are two types of dialysis --Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis. In Hemodialysis, an artificial kidney (hemodialyzer) is used to remove waste and extra chemicals and fluid from the patient’s blood. To get the blood into the artificial kidney, the doctor makes an access into the blood vessels by a minor surgery on the patient's arm or leg. Occasionally, this access is made by joining an artery to a vein under your skin to make a bigger blood vessel called a fistula. However, if the blood vessels are not adequate for a fistula, the doctors use a soft plastic tube to join an artery and a vein under the skin. This is called a graft. An access can also be made by means of a narrow plastic tube, called a catheter, which is inserted into a large vein in the patient’s neck. This type of access may be temporary, but is sometimes used for long-term treatment. How long does Dialysis take? It depends on factors like: state of kidney function ● how much fluid weight patient gains between two sessions ● how much waste is there in patient’s body ● weight of patient ● the type of artificial kidney used Usually, each hemodialysis treatment lasts about four hours and is done three times per week. In Peritoneal Dialysis, the patient's blood is cleaned inside the body. A small surgery is done to place a plastic tube called a catheter into the patient’s abdomen to make an access. During the treatment, the abdominal area or the peritoneal cavity is slowly filled with dialysate through the catheter. The blood stays in the arteries and veins that line the peritoneal cavity. Extra fluid and waste products are drawn out of the blood and into the dialysate. There are two major types of Peritoneal Dialysis: 1. Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) 2. Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) is the only type of peritoneal dialysis that is done without machines. Patients do it themselves, usually four or five times a day at home and/or at work. A bag of dialysate (about two quarts) is put into the peritoneal cavity through the catheter. The dialysate stays there for about four or five hours before it is drained back into the bag and thrown away. This is called an exchange. A new bag of dialysate is used each time. Patients can go about their usual activities at work, at school or at home during the treatment. Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) usually is done at home using a special machine called a cycler. This is similar to CAPD except that a number of cycles (exchanges) occur. Each cycle usually lasts 1-1/2 hours and exchanges are done throughout the night while the patient is asleep. How long can you live on Dialysis? If both kidneys have failed, the patient will need to have dialysis treatments for their whole life unless they are able to get a kidney transplant. Life expectancy on dialysis varies depending on other medical conditions and patient’s compliance. Average life expectancy on dialysis is 5-10 years, however, many patients have lived well on dialysis for 20 or even 30 years. Source - https://www.baghospital.com/blog/what-is-dialysis
