What is artificial kidney or hemodialysis?
Answers
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Healthy kidneys have several functions in the body, the most well-known job is to produce urine.
When kidney function goes below 10% to 15% kidneys are no longer able to filter the blood and make urine.
This causes toxins to build up in the body along with excess fluid.
Fortunately, we live in a time when there are treatments and medicines that can replace the functions of the kidneys and keep the body alive.
One type of renal replacement therapy — meaning a treatment that replaces kidney function — is hemodialysis.
Hemodialysis is a therapy that filters waste, removes extra fluid and balances electrolytes (sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, chloride, calcium, magnesium and phosphate).
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Answer: Kidney is a very important organ which is essential for maintaining internal homeostastis as it is engaged in elimination of the nitrogenous and other metabolic by-products. Even if one kidney is damaged, the second kidney can carry on the function of excretion completely. However, if both the Kidneys are damaged a new compatible kidney has to be grafted. Till that period, waste products are removed with the help of hemodialysis or artificial kidney. Artificial kidney is a physico-chemical device to remove excretory products from blood in case of temporary disfunction due to toxins, injury or infection. It is based on the principle of dialysis or separation of smaller solute or ions from larger particles with the help of an ultra filter. The artificial kidney consists of a number of semipermeable Cellophane tubes embedded in a tank of dialysing fluid. The dialysing fluid has the same osmotic concentration as that of blood. However, it contains more of glucose. Nitrogenous waste products, phosphates and sulphates are excluded. Blood from an artery, or vein fitted to pumping mechanism, is mixed with heparin, cooled at zero degree celsius and passed into cellophane tubes of artificial kidney. Nitrogenous waste products, phosphates and sulphates of blood pass into dialysing fluid. Purified blood is verb and mixed with antiheparin. It is passed back into vein. The whole process takes 3 to 4 hours.