As the Food Physician I’m often asked what is dialysis?
Dialysis is a means by which a patient with advanced kidney disease, who would otherwise be slowly poisoned by the failure of their damaged kidneys, can have the toxins and waste matter removed from their blood in the way a healthy pair of kidneys would. The techniques literally mimic the function of a normal healthy kidney.
There are three major methods of kidney dialysis, although they all share the same objective of cleaning the patient’s blood of toxins and waste products.
The three main types of dialysis are: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and intestinal dialysis. So to discover what is dialysis, we’ll now look at these three in more detail.
What is dialysis? Method #1 – Hemodialysis Dialysis:
The original dialysis machine, which is the fore runner of the modern-day hemodialysis machine, was developed by Dr Willem Kolff back in 1943. The first example of the machine saving a life was that of a 67 year old woman in a coma, due to kidney failure. After 11 hours on Kolff’s machine she regained consciousness.
Originally the idea of regular long-term open-ended treatment of stage five kidney failure patients was thought to be impossible, so the machine was reserved for last resort treatments.
So it was not until 1962 that – following various improvements to both the machine and the method of accessing the patient’s blood, that the world’s first outpatient dialysis facility opened in Seattle, WA, USA, to treat patients with acute kidney disease.
From the start, they were overwhelmed by the demand and it was difficult to decide who had the greatest need. This type of dialysis remains the most common method used in both the USA and other developed countries.
What is dialysis? Method # 2 – Peritoneal Dialysis:
Peritoneal dialysis is less effective than the hemodialysis used in advanced countries, but is used because it does not require an expensive and sophisticated dialysis machine or the use of a central dialysis center.
This technique involves using the peritoneum in the patient’s abdomen as a membrane across which there is an exchange of fluids by osmosis. This allows dissolved toxins and waste products to be drawn out of the patient’s blood. The fluid containing the waste products and toxins is then flushed out. This can be done once a day – usually at night – whilst the patient is sleeping (automatic peritoneal dialysis) or with regular flushing during the day (continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis). The method chosen depends on the severity of the patient’s lack of kidney function.
Because the tube inserted into the peritoneum is a foreign body, there is a risk of infection due to its permanent presence. This complication can also occur with the more sophisticated hemodialysis dialysis.
Apart from the cost advantage of not requiring a dialysis machine, with its associated infrastructure, such as reliable electricity and large amounts of purified water, the primary advantage of peritoneal dialysis is being able to undertake treatment without visiting a medical facility. All these factors make it a better option for less developed countries, although it is not as effective as hemodialysis dialysis.
What is dialysis? Method # 3 – Intestinal Dialysis:
This is a relatively new technique, with the twin advantages of not requiring expensive dialysis facilities or invasive surgery involving the insertion of tubes into the patient.
It involves the kidney failure patient eating large amounts of soluble fiber, such as acacia fiber. This is digested by the bacteria present within the colon, providing spongy bulky material, which absorbs many of the waste products and toxins which would normally be dealt with by healthy kidneys. This can then be excreted from the body as fecal matter.
What is dialysis? The future of dialysis:
Because of the tremendous advances currently being made into the use of a special kidney health diet to stop the decline in kidney function, as well as actually reverse it, the future for kidney dialysis looks bright. In fact, in a generation or two from now, anyone asking the question: what is dialysis might be met with a blank stare, because it will be as outdated at gas light.
I hope that has answered the question of what is dialysis for you.
Filed under: What is Dialysis?
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