What do you know about intermittent hemodialysis?
Are you familiar with different types of dialysis?
If you are on dialysis with yourself and your loved ones, we recommend that by reading this article, you add to your information and knowledge about this method of blood filtration and detoxification due to abnormal kidney function.
In the following, we will talk more about the types of dialysis, hemodialysis and especially intermittent hemodialysis.
what you will read next :
Why is dialysis performed?
Dialysis is a method of purifying the blood and removing harmful substances and compounds and toxins from the bloodstream in the absence of normal kidney function.
When the kidneys fail, the filtration and purification of the blood of wastes and toxins will be impaired and urea and Nitron-containing toxic compounds and a compound called creatinine in the blood will rise which are harmful to the body’s cells.
In dialysis, blood flow is pumped from a permanent or temporary vascular path at a rate of about three hundred milliliters per minute into the device and in fact into the artificial purifying membranes inside the device.
On the other side, Synthetic purifier membrane is moving, there is a concentration and pressure gradient between the two sides of the membrane, and this difference in concentration and pressure will cause the waste material to move from the patient’s body to the opposite side of the membrane.
So the toxins, wastes and harmful substances in the blood go into the dialysis fluid and stay there, and the blood that returns to the body will be free of these wastes.
Dialysis, in the absence of normal kidney function, removes waste products from the blood and can partially replace kidney function.
When do doctors use dialysis?
There are special criteria for starting dialysis that are very specific, but changes in the amount of certain electrolytes in the blood, the general condition of the patient following the effects of the accumulation of waste products in the body, and others determine the timing of emergency dialysis.
By assessing elevated blood urea and creatinine levels, the doctor finds that the kidneys’ ability to purify the blood of toxins is greatly reduced, and this is where dialysis should be started to save the patient’s life.
What are the general types of dialysis?
Types of dialysis can be divided into the following two categories:
- Blood dialysis or hemodialysis
- Peritoneal dialysis:
In this method, the peritoneal membrane, which surrounds the abdominal area, plays the role of an artificial semipermeable membrane in the hemodialysis machine. From one side of the abdomen, a tube containing a special fluid that contains no waste products will enter the abdominal cavity. And after the exchange of toxins, waste products and waste water will be removed from the other side of the abdomen.
In this method, maintaining sterility during peritoneal dialysis is very important and vital. This method can be performed by a fully trained patient. That is, after the initial dialysis and the use of the mask and the observance of sterility, the person actively begins the above process, this process takes thirty minutes.
But in this article, we want to talk more about hemodialysis and intermittent hemodialysis.
Types of hemodialysis
There are three types of hemodialysis:
- Conventional hemodialysis
- Daily Hemodialysis
- Nocturnal hemodialysis
What is Intermittent Hemodialysis?
In people with acute kidney failure, standard ICU and emergency treatment to save a person’s life is intermittent hemodialysis.
This process of purification and detoxification of blood will be done at certain intervals
For example, usually every day or every two to three days, a patient is connected to a special device in the hemodialysis unit.
There is a type of dialysis called Continuous renal replacement therapy or CRRT In which the purification of blood will be carried out 24 hours a day
Intermittent hemodialysis, which we will briefly illustrate below with IHD, will be an extremely effective method of both removing fluid that has accumulated in the body of a patient with renal insufficiency and whose urine has been cut off, it also effectively cleanses the blood of toxins
Each IHD course lasts about three to five hours.
Causes of kidney failure
Common causes that lead to acute kidney failure are:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure or hypertension
- Vascular inflammation and autoimmune diseases of the kidney, renal vasculitis, such as systemic lupus
- Inflammation of the functional units of the kidneys or glomerulonephritis
- Kidney cysts in polycystic kidney disease
- Complex surgeries
- Taking certain medications and toxins
Many people who start intramuscular hemodialysis live longer on dialysis, but the average life expectancy of people on dialysis is shorter than the average life expectancy of similar peers who do not receive dialysis.
Complications of hemodialysis
For all its benefits, hemodialysis can be associated with some side effects.
- Hypotension:
Hypotension in a person on dialysis is due to excessive fluid leakage from the arteries and body and has manifestations such as the following:
- Shortness of breath
- Abdominal cramps
- nausea and vomiting
- Muscle cramps:
- Itching
- Anemia
- Sleep problems and sleep disorders
- Calcium removal from bones due to increased parathyroid hormone and bone damage
- Inability of damaged kidneys to process vitamin D, which is essential for maintaining healthy bones, and related problems.
- Hypertension is sometimes seen in the list of complications in people who are on hemodialysis following acute renal failure.
- Disorders of electrolytes in the blood, such as changes in potassium levels Blood
- Deposition of specific proteins on joints and tendons (melioidosis)
- Infection of the entrance and exit of vascular catheters
- aneurysm in the vessel wall has been used.
In cases where the patient needs emergency dialysis, a large catheter is inserted into a vein around the neck and into a vein near the groin to provide immediate hemodialysis.
The history of hemodialysis dates back to about 1960, and since then it has saved the lives of many people with acute and chronic kidney failure and extended their lives. In recent years, technology has become more advanced and equipment and devices have become smaller and simpler.
Here’s how intermittent hemodialysis, or IHD, is done
How to do Intermittent hemodialysis
Most people who need hemodialysis should go to the hospital hemodialysis unit every two to three days.
People usually have three sessions a week of hemodialysis, and each time it takes about three to five hours of blood purification with the hemodialysis system. If the number of weekly hemodialysis sessions is increased, the duration of each session will be reduced.
Intermittent hemodialysis can be performed today in equipped hospitals and clinics and dialysis centers.
It is said that a person’s size and body, his general health status and the status of his blood components in terms of the amount of toxins and waste products will be effective in determining the duration of dialysis.
Today, technology is promoting and the tools and equipment are provided to perform dialysis at home and at night when the patient is asleep. Using the device requires special training that must be provided to one or more family members and friends.
In the hemodialysis unit, trained nurses, paramedics and physicians are present along with the patient and treatment systems.
The hemodialysis machine is about the size of a dishwasher and will do three major things.
Blood pump into the system
Purification of the blood from toxins and waste products.
Monitoring the outflow of fluids from the device and in fact monitoring the patient’s blood
We said that blood flows at a rate of 300 cc per minute inside the chamber of the hemodialysis system, which has a permeable artificial membrane, and sometimes that membrane is called the artificial kidney.
It is pumped across the membrane, there is a waste-free and sterile liquid and the waste products in the bloodstream are dispersed to the other side in terms of gradient and slope of concentration through the membrane.
And now the refined blood leaves the machine and returns to the body. The whole chamber above is called the dialyzer.
The final word
In the end, we must say that the composition of the special fluid will be selected by the doctor and according to the patient’s condition and tolerance, and will enter the dialyzer. Certainly, the compounds in the patient’s blood that have been evaluated by a laboratory test will determine the type and concentration of substances in this fluid.
During hemodialysis, local anesthetic creams are used to induce anesthesia at the site of needle entry.
The size and type of needles will be determined according to the choice of fast flow hemodialysis or normal hemodialysis.
Before hemodialysis, it is necessary to take medications regularly and follow the tips and recommendations of the doctor and treatment staff.