Explain artificial kidney (hemodialysis)?
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Kidneys are vital organs for survival. Several factors like infections, injury or restricted
blood flow to kidneys reduce the activity of kidneys. This leads to accumulation of
poisonous wastes in the body, which can even lead to death. In case of kidney
failure, an artificial kidney can be used. An artificial kidney is a device to remove
nitrogenous waste products from the blood through dialysis.
Artificial kidneys contain a number of tubes with a semi-permeable lining, suspended
in a tank filled with dialysing fluid.
This fluid has the same osmotic
pressure as blood, except that it is
devoid of nitrogenous wastes. The
patient’s blood is passed through
these tubes. During this passage,
the waste products from the blood
pass into dialysing fluid by diffusion.
The purified blood is pumped back
into the patient. This is similar to the
function of the kidney, but it is
different since there is no reabsorption
involved. Normally, in a
healthy adult, the initial filtrate in the
kidneys is about 180 L daily.
However, the volume actually
excreted is only a litre or two a day,
because the remaining filtrate is reabsorbed
in the kidney tubules.
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