Dialysis

Dialysis is a treatment that cleans your blood and removes excess fluid from your body when your kidneys are no longer healthy enough to do these important jobs.

Dialysis will help you to live a life as similar as possible to the one you had before your kidneys failed. Still, it’s important to understand that dialysis is a treatment, not a cure. It can’t repair your kidneys, nor can it fully replace a healthy kidney. Usually once people begin dialysis treatments, they will be on some form of dialysis for the rest of their lives, unless they have a successful kidney transplant.

This type of therapy is available at home or in a hospital or clinic and there are two main types:

Peritoneal dialysis removes waste products and excess water from your body by using the peritoneal cavity on the inside of your abdomen to clean your blood. Your peritoneal cavity is filled with a special dialysis fluid called dialysate. Excess water and wastes pass from the blood through the lining in the peritoneal cavity, and into the dialysis fluid. The fluid is then drained from your body and discarded.
Hemodialysis means “cleaning the blood” and that’s exactly what this treatment does. Blood is withdrawn from the body by a machine and passed through an artificial kidney. It is called an “artificial kidney” because it cleans the blood, although not as efficiently as a healthy kidney.

Your dialysis treatment can be independent or dependent. Independent dialysis involves treatments you can do at home, and dependent dialysis takes place in a hospital or clinic. The path you choose will depend on your overall health, your lifestyle goals, and your personal circumstances. Either way, your health care team will be there to support you.

Please consult Chapter 2, Dialysis, of the Living with Kidney Failure handbook, for more information on the types of dialysis available.

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