When kidney function declines to the point that the body can no longer cope with daily life, toxins and fluid build up in the body. This can cause nausea, vomiting, swollen legs and even pulmonary oedema, and leaves a person feeling unwell.
Dialysis can then be used to relieve these symptoms.
There are two main types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
In peritoneal dialysis, a tube is placed into the peritoneal cavity and clean dialysis fluid is run in. After several hours, the fluid containing toxins is drained out.
In hemodialysis, blood is drawn out of the body, filtered through the artificial kidney of the dialysis machine, and the cleaned blood is returned to the body.
Many people wonder why different tubes are sometimes used, what an artificial vessel (graft) is, what a native vessel (fistula) is, and why balloon angioplasty is sometimes needed.
Want to learn more? Listen to the podcast “Yin Ren Ru Shen” (引人入腎), in which Dr. Su explains the differences between the various dialysis tubes and what each is used for, so that you can better understand the whole process.
