Top-notch care for patients who require renal dialysis

The state-of-the-art nine-bed renal dialysis unit is officially open to patients at Life Cosmos Hospital.

It is a welcome addition to an already well-equipped hospital and will provide top-notch care for patients who require renal dialysis and specialised care from their full-time nephrologist, Dr Thulisani Shabangu.

Let us take a closer look at kidneys.

What do the kidneys do?

The kidneys are bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, in your lower back, one on either side of your spine.

The kidneys are sophisticated machines which process almost 200 liters of blood on a daily basis to sift out about two liters of waste products and extra water.

The wastes and extra water become urine, which flows to the bladder through tubes called ureters.

The bladder stores urine until releasing it when one urinates.

Wastes in the blood come from the normal breakdown of active tissues, such as muscles, and from food.

If the kidneys did not remove them, these wastes would build up in the blood and damage the body.

Why do kidneys fail?

Most kidney diseases attack the nephrons (tiny filtering units within the kidneys), causing them to lose their filtering capacity.

Damage to the nephrons can happen quickly, often as the result of injury or poisoning.

However, most kidney diseases destroy the nephrons slowly and silently.

Only after years or even decades will the damage become apparent.

Most kidney diseases attack both kidneys simultaneously.

What is dialysis?

When the kidneys are no longer working effectively, waste products and fluid build up in the blood.

Dialysis is a process of removing some of a person’s blood, cleaning it, and then returning it to the person’s body.

Dialysis treatments may be used for patients who have become ill and have acute renal failure (temporary loss of kidney function), or for fairly stable patients who have permanently lost kidney function (stage five chronic kidney disease).

There are two major types of dialysis: Haemodialysis: Blood is run through an external filter and the clean blood is returned to the body.

Haemodialysis is usually done at a chronic renal dialysis unit three times a week.

Peritoneal dialysis: Uses the lining of your abdominal cavity (the space in your body that holds organs like the stomach, intestines, and liver) to filter your blood.

This kind of dialysis is needed daily hence the name of this treatment – Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Peritoneal dialysis is not suited for all patients and criteria needs to be closely discussed together with your doctor.

How does dialysis work?

Blood travels through dialysis bloodlines to the dialyser, also known as the artificial kidney.

The dialyser is made up of two compartments, blood and dialysate.

Porous membranes inside the dialyser allow for the movement of waste products, electrolytes and water between compartments through a process of osmosis and diffusion.

These exchanges continue over the prescribed dialysis session until a balance of electrolytes and effective removal of waste products is achieved.

Red and white blood cells and other important blood components are too large to fit through the pores in the membranes, but urea and salt flow through membranes into the sterile solution (dialysate) and are removed.

This is achieved by processes of osmosis and diffusion.

For more information, please contact the Renal Dialysis Unit at Life Cosmos Hospital on 013 653 8190.