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Kidney dialysis

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This article is about renal dialysis; for the laboratory technique, see dialysis (biochemistry); for treatment for liver failure, see liver dialysis.
Kidney dialysis
Patient receiving dialysis
Specialtynephrology
ICD-9-CM39.95
MeSHD006435

In medicine, dialysis (from Greek "dialusis", meaning dissolution, "dia", meaning through, and "lysis", meaning loosening) is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure. Dialysis may be used for those with an acute disturbance in kidney function (acute kidney injury, previously acute renal failure) or for those with progressive but chronically worsening kidney function–a state known as chronic kidney disease stage 5 (previously chronic renal failure or end-stage kidney disease). The latter form may develop over months or years, but in contrast to acute kidney injury is not usually reversible, and dialysis is regarded as a "holding measure" until a renal transplant can be performed, or sometimes as the only supportive measure in those for whom a transplant would be inappropriate.[1]

The kidneys have important roles in maintaining health. When healthy, the kidneys maintain the body's internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfate). Those acidic metabolism end products that the body cannot get rid of via respiration are also excreted through the kidneys. The kidneys also function as a part of the endocrine system producing erythropoietin and calcitriol. Erythropoietin is involved in the production of red blood cells and calcitriol plays a role in bone formation.[2] Dialysis is an imperfect treatment to replace kidney function because it does not correct the endocrine functions of the kidney. Dialysis treatments replace some of these functions through diffusion (waste removal) and ultrafiltration (fluid removal).[3]

History

Dr. Willem Kolff, a Dutch physician, constructed the first working dialyzer in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.[4] Due to the scarcity of available resources, Kolff had to improvise and build the initial machine using sausage casings, beverage cans, a washing machine and various other items which were available at the time. Over the following two years, Kolff used his machine to treat 16 patients who suffered from acute kidney failure, but the results were unsuccessful. Then, in 1945, a 67-year-old woman in uremic coma regained consciousness following 11 hours of hemodialysis with the dialyzer, and lived for another seven years before dying of an unrelated condition. She was the first-ever patient successfully treated with dialysis.[4]

Principle

A hemodialysis machine

Dialysis works on the principles of the diffusion of solutes and ultrafiltration of fluid across a semi-permeable membrane. Diffusion describes a property of substances in water. Substances in water tend to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.[5] Blood flows by one side of a semi-permeable membrane, and a dialysate, or special dialysis fluid, flows by the opposite side. A semipermeable membrane is a thin layer of material that contains various sized holes, or pores. Smaller solutes and fluid pass through the membrane, but the membrane blocks the passage of larger substances (for example, red blood cells, large proteins). This replicates the filtering process which takes place in the kidneys, when the blood enters the kidneys and the larger substances are separated from the smaller ones in the glomerulus.[5]

The two main types of dialysis, hemodialysis and Peritoneal dialysis, remove wastes and excess water from the blood in different ways.[1] Hemodialysis removes wastes and water by circulating blood outside the body through an external filter, called a dialyzer, that contains a semipermeable membrane. The blood flows in one direction and the dialysate flows in the opposite. The counter-current flow of the blood and dialysate maximizes the concentration gradient of solutes between the blood and dialysate, which helps to remove more urea and creatinine from the blood. The concentrations of solutes (for example potassium, phosphorus, and urea) are undesirably high in the blood, but low or absent in the dialysis solution and constant replacement of the dialysate ensures that the concentration of undesired solutes is kept low on this side of the membrane. The dialysis solution has levels of minerals like potassium and calcium that are similar to their natural concentration in healthy blood. For another solute, bicarbonate, dialysis solution level is set at a slightly higher level than in normal blood, to encourage diffusion of bicarbonate into the blood, to act as a pH buffer to neutralize the metabolic acidosis that is often present in these patients. The levels of the components of dialysate are typically prescribed by a nephrologist according to the needs of the individual patient.

In peritoneal dialysis, wastes and water are removed from the blood inside the body using the peritoneal membrane of the peritoneum as a natural semipermeable membrane. Wastes and excess water move from the blood, across the peritoneal membrane, and into a special dialysis solution, called dialysate, in the abdominal cavity which has a composition similar to the fluid portion of blood.

\dialyzer. This pressure gradient causes water and dissolved solutes to move from blood to dialysate, and allows the removal of several litres of excess fluid during a typical 3 to 5 hour treatment. In the US, hemodialysis treatments are typically given in a dialysis center three times per week (due in the US to Medicare reimbursement rules); however, as of 2007 over 2,500 people in the US are dialyzing at home more frequently for various treatment lengths.[6] Studies have demonstrated the clinical benefits of dialyzing 5 to 7 times a week, for 6 to 8 hours. This type of hemodialysis is usually called "nocturnal daily hemodialysis", which a study has shown a significant improvement in both small and large molecular weight clearance and decrease the requirement of taking phosphate binders.[7] These frequent long treatments are often done at home while sleeping, but home dialysis is a flexible modality and schedules can be changed day to day, week to week. In general, studies have shown that both increased treatment length and frequency are clinically beneficial.[8]

Peritoneal dialysis

Schematic diagram of peritoneal dialysis
Main article: Peritoneal dialysis

In peritoneal dialysis, a sterile solution containing glucose is run through a tube into the peritoneal cavity, the abdominal body cavity around the intestine, where the peritoneal membrane acts as a semipermeable membrane.The peritoneal membrane or peritoneum is a layer of tissue containing blood vessels that lines and surrounds the peritoneal, or abdominal, cavity and the internal abdominal organs (stomach, spleen, liver, and intestines).[9] The dialysate is left there for a period of time to absorb waste products, and then it is drained out through the tube and discarded. This cycle or "exchange" is normally repeated 4-5 times during the day, (sometimes more often overnight with an automated system). Each time the dialysate fills and empties from the abdomen is called one exchange. A dwell time means that the time of dialysate stay in patient's abdominal cavity—wastes, chemicals and extra fluid move from patient's blood to the dialysate across the peritoneum. A drain process is the process after the dwell time, the dialysate full with waste products and extra fluid is drained out of patient's blood.[10] Ultrafiltration occurs via osmosis; the dialysis solution used contains a high concentration of glucose, and the resulting osmotic pressure causes fluid to move from the blood into the dialysate. As a result, more fluid is drained than was instilled. Peritoneal dialysis is less efficient than hemodialysis, but because it is carried out for a longer period of time the net effect in terms of removal of waste products and of salt and water are similar to hemodialysis. Peritoneal dialysis is carried out at home by the patient. Although support is helpful, it is not essential. It does free patients from the routine of having to go to a dialysis clinic on a fixed schedule multiple times per week, and it can be done while travelling with a minimum of specialized equipment.

Hemodiafiltration

Hemodialfiltration is a combination of hemodialysis and hemofiltration. In theory, this technique offers the advantages of both hemodialysis and hemofiltration.

Intestinal dialysis

In intestinal dialysis, the diet is supplemented with soluble fibres such as acacia fibre, which is digested by bacteria in the colon. This bacterial growth increases the amount of nitrogen that is eliminated in fecal waste.[11][12][13] An alternative approach utilizes the ingestion of 1 to 1.5 liters of non-absorbable solutions of polyethylene glycol or mannitol every fourth hour.[14]

Starting indications

The decision to initiate dialysis or hemofiltration in patients with renal failure depends on several factors. These can be divided into acute or chronic indications.

  • Chronic indications for dialysis:
    1. Symptomatic renal failure
    2. Low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (RRT often recommended to commence at a GFR of less than 10-15 mls/min/1.73m2). In diabetics dialysis is started earlier.
    3. Difficulty in medically controlling fluid overload, serum potassium, and/or serum phosphorus when the GFR is very low

See also

Materials and methods

Medical applications

References

  1. ^ a b Pendse S, Singh A, Zawada E. Initiation of Dialysis. In: Handbook of Dialysis. 4th ed. New York, NY; 2008:14–21
  2. ^ Brundage D. Renal Disorders. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 1992
  3. ^ "Atlas of Diseases of the Kidney, Volume 5, Principles of Dialysis: Diffusion, Convection, and Dialysis Machines" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  4. ^ a b An online source for kidney disease and dialysis information. http://www.davita.com/dialysis/c/197; Davita: 2010
  5. ^ a b Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, & Health Professions. 7th ed. St. Louis, MO; Mosby: 2006
  6. ^ "Usrds Treatment Modalities" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  7. ^ Rocco MV.More frequent hemodialysis: back to the future? In: Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease. Volume 14, issue 3; 2007:e1-9.
  8. ^ Daily therapy study results compared[dead link]
  9. ^ Blake P, Daugirdas J. Physiology of Peritoneal Dialysis. In: Handbook of Dialysis. 4th ed. New York, NY; 2008:323-338
  10. ^ Kallenbach J.Z. In: Review of hemodialysis for nurses and dialysis personnel. 7th ed. St. Louis, Missouri:Elsevier Mosby; 2005.
  11. ^ "Access". Medscape. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  12. ^ "Access". Medscape. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  13. ^ "Access". Medscape. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  14. ^ "Access". Medscape. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  15. ^ Irwin, Richard S. (2008). Irwin and Rippe's intensive care medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 988–999. ISBN 0781791537, 9780781791533. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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