Treatments for Kidney failure: Dialysis

There are 2 kinds of Dialysis treatments. Both basically rely on a particular method (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) where wastes of the body which cannot be removed by the kidneys, are removed by body fluids being cleansed by a machine or  pumped out.

HEMODIALYSIS

When a patient is diagnosed to have failing kidney progressively, he is usually advised to have an Arterio-Venous (AV) fistula (discussed on next blog) on his arm as access point where the machine will be connected to his arm.

Hemodialysis is done 2-3 times a week with each session lasting 4-5 hours.

PERITONEAL DIALYSIS

 The process uses the patient's peritoneum in the abdomen as a membrane across which fluids and dissolved substances (electrolytes, urea, glucose, albumin and other small molecules) are exchanged from the blood. Fluid is introduced through a permanent tube in the abdomen and flushed out either every night while the patient sleeps (automatic peritoneal dialysis) or via regular exchanges throughout the day (continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis). PD is used as an alternative to hemodialysis though it is far less common. It has comparable risks and expenses, with the primary advantage being the ability to undertake treatment without visiting a medical facility. The primary complication with PD is a risk of infection due to the presence of a permanent tube in the abdomen.

Peritoneal dialysis is done everyday at home.Here is a comparison of the 2 in a diagram: