#HealthyLifeMatters: Hemodialysis, A Procedure To Good Health

✒️ - By Aan Gray

Hemodialysis is a procedure for artificially clearing wastes from the blood when the kidneys are not adequately doing so. Blood is pumped from the radial artery to a dialysis machine (artificial kidney) and returned to the patient by way of a vein. In the dialysis machine, the blood flows through a semipermeable cellophane tube surrounded by dialysis fluid. Urea, potassium, and other solutes that are more concentrated in the blood than in the dialysis fluid diffuse through the membrane into the fluid, which is discarded. Glucose, electrolytes, and drugs can be administered by adding them to the dialysis fluid so they will diffuse through the membrane into the blood. People with renal insufficiency accumulate substantial amounts of excess body water between treatments, and dialysis serves also to remove it. Patients are typically given erythropoietin (EPO) to compensate for the lack of EPO from the failing kidneys.

Hemodialysis patients typically have three sessions per week for 4 to 8 hours per session. In addition to inconvenience, hemodialysis carries risks of infection and thrombosis. Blood tends to clot when exposed to foreign surfaces, so an anticoagulant such as heparin is added during dialysis. Unfortunately, this inhibits clotting in the patient's body as well, and dialysis patients sometimes suffer internal bleeding.
A procedure called continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is more convenient. It can be carried out at home by the patient, who is provided with plastic bags of dialysis fluid. Fluid is introduced into the abdominal cavity through an indwelling catheter. Here, the peritoneum provides over 2m² of blood-rich semipermeable membrane. The fluid is left in the body cavity for 15 to 60 minutes to allow the blood to equilibrate with it; then it is drained, discarded, and replaced with fresh dialysis fluid. The patient is not limited by a stationary dialysis machine and can go about most normal activities. CAPD is less expensive and promotes better morale than conventional hemodialysis, but it is less efficient in removing wastes and it is more often complicated by infection.

Whenever you discover unusual, and perhaps obscuring, feeling within you. Seek your Doctor's help. Your life matters!
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