Скачать или смотреть Dialysis | How Does It Work

Hemodialysis is the most common dialysis method, designed to mimic how healthy kidneys filter blood. The process removes waste products, excess fluids, and electrolytes from the blood of patients with kidney failure. Here’s how it works.

To begin, a viable access point to the bloodstream must be established. This can be achieved in several ways: Arteriovenous fistula: surgically connecting an artery to a vein, making it stronger and easier to puncture. AV graft: using a synthetic tube to connect an artery and vein. Central venous catheter: a temporary tube placed in a large vein.

During treatment, two needles are inserted into the access: one to draw blood out and the other to return cleansed blood. Blood is pumped into the dialysis machine at a steady rate.

The blood flows through a dialyzer, a cylindrical filter with thousands of hollow fibers. These fibers have semi-permeable membranes that allow small waste molecules and excess water to diffuse into the dialysate solution, while keeping larger cells and proteins in the blood.
The cleaned blood is returned through the second needle. A standard treatment lasts 3–5 hours, filtering several liters of blood.