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Dial ysis- saving your life   Why is Dialysis needed? Dialysis is required for people with kidney failure. The kidneys are vital excretory organs in the human body.

The functions of the kidney include: > People with kidney failure are unable to carry out these processes, which could ultimately prove **__fatal__**. In such circumstances, they could either undergo: > 2) Dialysis  >  Below is a video embedded to further explain the functions of kidneys
 * Removing __nitrogenous waste__(urea, creatinine, uric acid)
 * Removing __excess water and mineral salts__
 * Regulating the __salt and water balance__ of the body fluid at any given time ( osmoregulation)
 * 1) Kidney transplant or

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Causes of Kidney Failure Temporary failure 1)High blood pressure   2)Diabetes Permanent failure 1) Heavy drinking of alcohol   2) Severe injury 3) After a major surgery   Types of Kidney Dialysis    There are two main types of Kidney Dialysis:    -Haemodialysis    -Peritoneal Dialysis    Haemodialysis    In haemodialysis, blood is drawn from an artery of the patient's arm and passed through a dialysis machine. Nitrogenous wastes and substances to be excreted are removed in the machines via diffusion into the dialysis fluid. 'Cleaned' blood is then pumped back into a vein in the patient's arm.



Special structures in the dialysis machines include: > Embedded is a simplified explanation of the entire process: > media type="youtube" key="HR0oEsBIF5c" height="390" width="480"     Peritoneal Dialysis >   This is the less well known type of kidney dialysis. When dialysis is mentioned, people usually assume that it is haemodialysis. Moreover, peritoneal dialysis is distinctly different. >   >   During peritoneal dialysis, > -A __tube__ goes into the peritoneal cavity( abdominal cavity) > -During treatment, the peritoneal cavity, that is the thin space between your skin and organs, fills up with solution. > -The solution is basically __ultra-clean water.__ > -The fluid already in the patient's body is filled with toxins. > -So, the toxins are __drawn and absorbed by the dialysis solution.__ > -After a while, the machine drains the fluid that was in the patient's peritoneum thus cleaning his body >  Advantages of Peritoneal Dialysis > > > > > > >
 * 1)  A fluid containing __equal concentrations of useful substances__ ( glucose, amino acids). This equilibrium results in no net diffusion of useful substances out of the blood. It could even __'supply' these useful substances when there are inadequate levels in the patient's body.__
 * 2)  The fluid __does not contain substances to be excreted__. This creates a steep concentration gradient for diffusion to occur
 * 3)  Tubing in the machines is l__ong and coiled__-allows for adequate time for diffusion.
 * 4)  The __direction of blood flow is opposite to dialysis fluid flow__ (counter-current exchange). This maintains a steep concentration gradient for efficient diffusion.
 * 1) You do treatment everyday as opposed to three times a week, which means you tend to feel better.
 * 2) You are not as restricted with activity.
 * 3) You don’t have to worry about blood clots in a port.[[image:http://dialysis-centers.info/images/smiling-dialysis-patient.jpg width="202" height="351" align="right" caption="A smiling dialysis patient"]]