Renal dialysis is a mechanical method of removing waste products and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys are unable to do so (renal failure). The two forms of dialysis are hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Hemodialysis cycles blood through a machine that filters the blood and returns it to the body cleaned of waste. Peritoneal dialysis cycles fluid into and out of the abdomen using the individual's own abdominal membrane (peritoneum) as a filter.
.Many dialysis with kidney disease patients have a question about Life expectancy on dialysis .
The normal life expectancy of a patient is 3-5 years. It is assumed that if a person is undergoing the treatment for chronic kidney diseases, then the end is near. This is because only someone with the most advanced stage (stage 5) of this disease will be put under the treatment. This stage is also known as End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and recovering from this is virtually unheard of. The mortality rate for patients suffering from ESRD is 22% annually, and this effectively means that surviving beyond 5 years is going to be highly unlikely.
When a person decides to undergo dialysis, it is a conscious decision that he/she must make. The fact is that without dialysis, the patient will not survive for more than a few weeks. The kidneys process the urea in the body and release it in the form of urine, so when the kidneys stop working, urine stops getting released from the body. As a result of this, the vascular system will soon get flooded with liquid, and the heart will be unable to keep up with this added volume. The lungs will also get flooded, and this will result in a lack of oxygen to the brain and to the heart.
Additionally, the kidneys then fail to absorb potassium and phosphorus, causing the heart to beat irregularly, and causing the aorta to harden respectively. The added amount of urea in the body will also lead to toxemia, which will damage the heart, the brain and blood vessels.
