Dialysis

The kidneys eliminate the body’s metabolic wastes. However, the kidneys may fail eventually due to some underlying illness or senility.  In these cases, dialysis means the difference between life and death. Here, let’s learn about the concept of dialysis with a well-labelled diagram.

Dialysis Meaning

“Dialysis is an artificial way to eliminate waste and excess fluid from the body.”

Dialysis is carried out when the kidney does not function normally. It is a process that eliminates wastes and excess fluid from the blood. If left untreated, waste products and fluids can get accumulated in the body at dangerous levels.

Table of Contents

• Explanation
• Types
  • Hemodialysis
  • Peritoneal
• Principle
• Advantages

A kidney can filter 100-150 quarts of blood every day. If the kidneys are not functioning properly, waste starts accumulating in the blood. This results in coma and even death.

To cure this, the patient is subjected to dialysis. Dialysis maintains the body balance in the following ways:

• It controls blood pressure.
• It removes excess water and metabolic wastes from the body.
• Prevents chemicals such as potassium, bicarbonate and sodium from reaching hazardous levels.

Dialysis is done when a person is suffering from a critical kidney disorder – grave kidney damage or previously severe renal failure. It is required when the kidney loses 90% of its efficiency and has a glomerular filtration rate of less than 15. This treatment may continue for months or years since most kidney failures are irreversible.

Also Read: Disorders of Excretory System

Dialysis involves the process of ultrafiltration of fluid through a semipermeable membrane and concept of the dissipation of solutes. Diffusion is a characteristic of materials in water that has the tendency to flow against a concentration gradient.

Blood runs on one flank of the semi-permeable film, and dialysate or distinct dialysis fluids flow on the opposite flank. A selectively permeable layer is a skinny membrane of material that comprises pores of different sizes or holes.

Minor solutes and fluids flow through the layer, but the membrane stops the path of bigger substances (for instance, large proteins, red blood cells). This imitates the filtering procedure that happens in the kidneys when the blood moves into the kidneys and the bigger substances are divided from the minor ones in the glomerulus.

However, dialysis is not a permanent solution, instead, it should be seen as a temporary alternative to substitute the kidney’s function until the kidney can repair itself. But chronic kidney damage will rarely heal itself, the only solution being a kidney transplant.  Typically, patients have a longer life expectancy if they opt for a kidney transplant than dialysis.

Dialysis – Diagram

There are two types of dialysis:

In this method, the patient’s blood is passed through the dialysis machine where it is purified and returned to the patient’s body.

Peritoneal dialysis is done by surgically implanting a catheter in the stomach of the patient. A cleaning fluid (dialysate) is then circulated throughout the catheter that absorbs the waste materials from the blood vessels in the walls of the stomach. It is then drawn out and discarded. Peritoneal dialysis is considered to be more versatile and convenient than hemodialysis.

Also Read: Peritoneal Dialysis

• Dialysis can be carried out even at home.
• Peritoneal dialysis is a comfortable method of dialysis that is easy to use.
• The equipment used in peritoneal dialysis is less bulky and easy to carry along with the patient.
• Unlike peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis is not be carried out every day.

Also Read: Human Excretory System

To learn more about dialysis, its meaning, types and advantages or any other related topics, keep visiting BYJU’S website.