Dialysis
Dialysis is always a two-way process: waste products diffuse from patients‘ blood into the dialysis fluid, at the same time compounds added to the dialysis fluid diffuse from the fluid back into the blood. Two types of dialysis treatments are common:
- hemodialysis: blood is circulated out of the body and run through an external artificial kidney – the dialysis machine – that removes toxic waste products (which would normally be excreted by working kidneys) before returning the cleaned blood back into the body.
- Peritoneal dialysis: the patients‘ belly area – the abdomen – is filled with dialysis fluid which then sits in the abdomen for a period of time while diffusion of waste products from the blood into the dialysis fluid takes place. After a given time, the fluid is removed and disposed of.
According the U.S. Renal Data System, hemodialysis (87%) in the U.S. is the more prevalent treatment modality over Peritoneal Dialysis. 98% of hemodialysis patients receiving in-centre hemodialysis.
Serious side effects of renal replacement therapy (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) are linked among others to dramatically reduced Creatine levels in chronic dialysis patients:
- Reduced Creatine levels
- Physical and mental fatigue up to depressions
- Neuropathy
- Skeletal muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass
- Neuro-muscular coordination deficits
- Uremic anemia (hypo-proliferative anemia and hemolysis)
- High cardio-vascular co-morbidities
- Anemia related cardio-renal syndrome
- Lowered hypoxia tolerance of the tubular system in the kidney (residual kidney function)
02