HEMODIALYSIS
Category: Internal Medicine
Abstract : Hemodialysis Hemodialysis is the most frequently prescribed type of dialysis treatment in the United States. The treatment involves circulating the patient’s blood outside of the body through an extracorporeal circuit (ECC), or dialysis circuit. Two needles are inserted into the patient’s vein, or access site, and are attached to the ECC, which consists of plastic blood tubing, a f
Hemodialysis
Hemodialysis is the most frequently prescribed type of dialysis treatment in the United States. The treatment involves circulating the patient’s blood outside of the body through an extracorporeal circuit (ECC), or dialysis circuit.
Two needles are inserted into the patient’s vein, or access site, and are attached to the ECC, which consists of plastic blood tubing, a filter known as a dialyzer (artificial kidney), and a dialysis machine that monitors and maintains blood flow and administers dialysate. Dialysate is a chemical bath that is used to draw waste products out of the blood.
Since the 1980s, the majority of hemodialysis treatments in the United States have been performed with hollow fiber dialyzers. A hollow fiber dialyzer is composed of thousands of tube-like hollow fiber strands encased in a clear plastic cylinder several inches in diameter. There are two compartments within the dialyzer (the blood compartment and the dialysate compartment).
The membrane that separates these two compartments is semipermeable. This means that it allows the passage of certain sized molecules across it, but prevents the passage of other, larger molecules. As blood is pushed through the blood compartment in one direction, suction or vacuum pressure pulls the dialysate through the dialysate compartment in a countercurrent, or opposite direction. These opposing pressures work to drain excess fluids out of the bloodstream and into the dialysate, a process called ultrafiltration.
A second process called diffusion moves waste products in the blood across the membrane and into the dialysate compartment, where they are carried out of the body. At the same time, electrolytes and other chemicals in the dialysate solution cross the membrane into the blood compartment. The purified, chemically balanced blood is then returned to the body.
Most hemodialysis patients require treatment three times a week, for an average of three to four hours per dialysis run. Specific treatment schedules depend on the type of dialyzer used and the patient’s current physical condition.
Blood pressure changes associated with hemodialysis may pose a risk for patients with heart problems. Peritoneal dialysis may be the preferred treatment option in these cases.
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