Kidney Failure and Treatment Options

Consequences of Kidney Failure

• Kidney failure leads to the build-up of waste substances in the bloodstream.
• Inability to regulate water and ion levels.
• Rapid sickness and potential death without treatment.

Treatments for Kidney Failure

• Mild Kidney Disease: Treated with medication.
• Severe Kidney Failure: Requires dialysis or kidney transplant.

Dialysis

• Function: Acts as an artificial kidney, filtering patient's blood.

• Process:

  • Blood is passed into the machine, through a circuit, and back into the patient.
  • Blood contacts dialysis fluid separated by a partially permeable membrane.
  • Small molecules like water and ions can diffuse; larger ones like cells and proteins cannot.
  • Dialysis fluid mimics healthy blood without urea.
  • Excess ions and water diffuse into dialysis fluid due to concentration gradient.
  • Dialysis fluid is constantly replaced to maintain concentration gradient.

• Advantages: Cleans blood of unwanted substances like extra ions and urea.

• Disadvantages:

  • Time-consuming: 3-4 days a week, 3-4 hours each session.
  • Unpleasant and risks like blood clots or infections.
  • Expensive and requires lifelong treatment.

Kidney Transplant

• Procedure: Healthy kidney from donor transferred to patient.

• Sources of Donated Kidneys:

  • Mostly from deceased individuals.
  • Living donors can donate as humans can live with one kidney.

• Risks:

  • Surgical risk and potential organ rejection.
  • Organ rejection caused by the immune system attacking the transplanted organ.
  • Immunosuppressants can help but are not always effective.

• Benefits: Generally better and cheaper than dialysis.

Challenges

• Insufficient available organs for transplants leading to continued reliance on dialysis.