Dialysis

Dialysis is recommended or prescribed for patients whose kidneys are not doing the work of filtering excess fluid and waste out of the bloodstream properly. Kidney disease or damage to kidney tissues leads to a buildup of waste in the blood, causing harm to other parts of the body, especially the kidneys, which are largely responsible for filtering toxins and waste from the bloodstream.

When less than 15-20% of your kidney function remains due to either chronic kidney disease or acute kidney failure, dialysis becomes one of the few options left to prevent total kidney failure. 

What is Dialysis?

Dialysis is a regular treatment that removes the wastes, salt, and excess fluid from your bloodstream to ease the burden on your damaged kidneys. In this way, the treatment functions as a temporary artificial kidney machine.

There are two types of dialysis that might be used depending on the patient’s individual case.

Hemodialysis

In this process, blood flows through a tube from your body and through a dialyzer which acts as an artificial kidney and cleans your blood. The waste from the blood is absorbed in a fluid called dialysate (cleansing fluid). Purified blood then flows back into your body through another tube.

During hemodialysis, your heart rate and blood pressure are continuously monitored by your caregiver as they might fluctuate during the procedure. Hemodialysis might be recommended by your doctor 3 times a week for 3-4 hours depending on your health and other factors.

Although you have to visit the dialysis center many times per week, you can still enjoy work, study, play, travel, and exercise, perhaps as you wait to receive a kidney transplant.

Peritoneal Dialysis

Peritoneal dialysis is a more permanent solution that can be performed at home by yourself to continuously or at least regularly perform dialysis through a different method. To enable peritoneal dialysis, you will have a minor surgical procedure during which a catheter, or small tube, is placed inside a layer of tiny blood vessels within the abdominal wall where the dialysate solution will be absorbed by your body.

During peritoneal dialysis, you connect the implanted catheter to a Y-shaped tube and then to a bag containing the dialysis solution. The clean solution flows into your body over the course of about 10 minutes. After about an hour or more, the solution should be ready to be drained, which is when you’ll hook up a clean, empty bag to the other end of the Y tube to allow it to drain.

There are automated machines that can perform this process as needed when you sleep, a process called automated peritoneal dialysis, or you can perform it manually throughout the day, up to four times.

Dialysis Recovery

During the different types of dialysis treatments, you might feel uncomfortable or have a feeling of fullness at the interface site (especially for peritoneal dialysis). However, there should be no negative side effects after completing a dialysis treatment each time you have one performed.

Kidney Disease Diagnosis and Treatment

Learn more about the right solution for your specific kidney function and risk factors by talking to Dr. Gaurav Tandon, a kidney doctor, during an appointment at the Kidney Clinic of North Florida. We provide diagnosis and treatment for all types of kidney disease at all stages of progression, so don’t hesitate to call or contact us to see how we can help.