Many people don't understand hemodialysis and think it's terrifying, requiring blood to be exchanged outside the body. In fact, it's a very effective extracorporeal circulation method that replaces the kidneys and can effectively prolong a patient's lifespan. Let's take a closer look at what hemodialysis is and its side effects.
The Concept of Hemodialysis
Hemodialysis, also known as an artificial kidney or dialysis, is a type of blood purification technology. It utilizes a semipermeable membrane to remove harmful substances, metabolic waste, and excess electrolytes from the body through diffusion, thereby purifying the blood and correcting water, electrolyte, and acid-base balances.
Hemodialysis is a kidney replacement therapy for patients with uremia. It's a life-saving treatment option for these patients. Hemodialysis involves drawing blood out, passing it through a purification device, and then returning it. It's a specialized treatment for uremia, using a specialized machine to purify the blood before returning it to the body. Each treatment lasts approximately four hours and utilizes extracorporeal circulation.
Depending on the treatment method, it can be divided into intermittent hemodialysis and continuous hemodialysis. Besides its application in the replacement therapy of chronic renal failure, hemodialysis is also used for acute renal failure, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, severe trauma, acute necrotizing pancreatitis, hyperkalemia, hypernatremia, and acute alcohol poisoning caused by various reasons. It is significant in alleviating patient symptoms and prolonging survival, and is also one of the effective measures for the rescue of acute and chronic renal failure.
Side effects of hemodialysis: The main side effects of hemodialysis include hypotension, convulsions, nausea, vomiting, and fever. More than 99% of female patients undergoing dialysis will lose their fertility. Most patients experience a gradual decrease in urine output after hemodialysis, and some patients may experience anuria. Dialysis itself is an "artificial kidney." If dialysis is used and other treatments are abandoned, the diseased kidneys will continue to deteriorate until they completely lose function. If anuria persists after dialysis is stopped, it indicates that the kidneys have died, and other treatments are ineffective. In this case, lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant is necessary.
Before kidney necrosis, a turbidity-reducing therapy was used. According to telephone follow-ups with patients who underwent three or more courses of this therapy, most uremia patients no longer required dialysis; those who were previously on dialysis had discontinued it, and their condition was stabilized with traditional Chinese medicine to prevent further progression. Creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels steadily decreased, urine output increased, and various symptoms of uremia were significantly alleviated.
The direct side effect of dialysis is anemia, which doctors will then treat with erythropoietin, but this will raise blood pressure, requiring antihypertensive medication. Eventually, erythropoietin becomes unusable, necessitating blood transfusions, lifelong dialysis, or a kidney transplant. Kidney transplants generally do not remove the original kidney; instead, a healthy kidney is "installed" into the uremia patient to replace the function of the diseased kidney. However, rejection reactions are possible, and the individual's survival time is not long.