Kidney failure & its treatment

Princess Royal · #1 Thursday, January 24, 2008

Kidney failure & dialysis machine (artificial kidney)

....................When kidneys stop working, this state is called Acute Renal Failure. Kidneys remove waste products and help balance water and salt and other minerals (electrolytes) in blood. When kidneys stop working, waste products, fluids, and electrolytes build up in body. This can cause problems that can be deadly. Acute renal failure has following three main causes:

1. A sudden, serious drop in blood flow to the kidneys. Heavy blood loss, an injury, or a bad infection called sepsis can reduce blood flow to the kidneys. Not enough fluid in the body (dehydration) also can harm the kidneys.

2. Damage from some medicines, poisons, or infections. Most people do not have any kidney problems from taking medicines. People who have serious, long-term health problems are more likely than other people to have a kidney problem from medicines. The medicines that can sometimes harm the kidneys include:
* Antibiotics, such as gentamicin and streptomycin.
* Pain medicines, such as aspirin and ibuprofen.
* Some blood pressure medicines, such as ACE inhibitors.
* The dyes used in some X-ray tests.

3. A sudden blockage that stops urine from flowing out of the kidneys. Kidney stones, a tumor, an injury, or an enlarged prostate gland can cause a blockage.

....................Chances of getting an acute renal failure increases as you age, if you have a long-term health problem (such as kidney or liver disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart failure or obesity) or if you are ill and are in the hospital or intensive care (ICU). Heart surgery or belly surgery or a bone marrow transplant can make you more likely to have kidney failure.

....................When a kidney failure occurs, in the former case, recovery is usually spontaneous but if it takes longer than 2 weeks the patient may die as a result of potassium imbalance in the blood which causes heart failure. In the case of kidney disease, the patient can survive with only one kidney, but if both fail the patient's blood composition has to be regulated by a dialysis machine. Similarly, the accident victim (whose kidney failure resulted from a drop in blood pressure) can be kept alive on a dialysis machine until his or her blood pressure is restored.

....................A dialysis machine consists of a large cellulose tube coiled up (to increase the surface area for the tube) in a water bath. This is called dialysis fluid and it is sterile with no bacteria or any living things in it. The patient's blood is led from a vein in the arm and pumped through the cellulose (dialysis) tubing. The submicroscopic pores in the dialysis tubing allow small molecules, such as those of salts, glucose and urea, to leak out into the water bath. Blood cells and protein molecules are too large to get through the pores. This stage is similar to the filtration process in the glomerulus.

....................To prevent the loss of glucose and essential salts from the blood, the liquid in the water bath consists of a solution of salts and sugar of the correct composition, so that only the substances above this composition can diffuse out of the blood into the bathing sloution. Thus, uric acid, urea, excess salts are removed. The bathing solution is also kept at the same temperature and is constantly changed as the unwanted blood solutes accumulate in it. The blood is then returned to the patient's arm vein. (*Bubble trapper traps all the bubbles which may form in the tube in order to prevent them from entering patient's body which may cause blockage of blood vessels.)

....................A patient with total kidney failure has to spend 2 or 3 nights each week connected to the machine. With this treatment and a carefully controlled diet, the patient can lead a fairly normal life.

Some part of the information has been taken from the following link:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/a...topic-overview

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