Chronic Kidney Disease and Treatment Methods

Kidney Failure

The main task of the kidneys is to clean from the blood the remaining portion of the substances taken as food or medicine that needs to be excreted after being used as much as necessary and to excrete them by forming urine. In the event that the kidneys do not work adequately, these substances accumulate in the body. If this condition is reversible, it is called acute kidney disease; if it is long-term and permanent, it is called chronic kidney disease.

Treatment Options for Chronic Kidney Disease

In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, methods such as diet to maintain the current potential of the kidney, avoiding the substances harmful to the kidney, and substituting the substances that the kidney cannot form are primarily applied.

In advanced kidney failure, there are mainly three treatment methods:

• Hemodialysis
• Peritoneal dialysis
• Kidney transplantation

What is Hemodialysis?

Hemodialysis is the name given to the process of cleansing the blood drawn from the patient of substances harmful to the body and of excess fluid by passing it through special filters using a machine. It is the most common treatment method for chronic kidney failure today.

Why Does Hemodialysis Require Preparation?

For the hemodialysis machine to perform adequate dialysis, at least 300-400 ml of blood per minute must go to the filter from a vein in the human body. A vein is used to draw blood easily.
There is no vein in our body with blood flow to that extent. For this reason, it is necessary to establish a vascular access route with high blood flow.

What are the Vascular Access Routes Used for Hemodialysis?

There are three types of vascular access routes;

• Fistula
• Graft (artificial vein)
• Catheter

Peritoneal Dialysis

The peritoneum is a membrane in the abdominal cavity surrounding the abdominal wall and organs. Peritoneal dialysis is the process of cleansing the blood of harmful substances and ensuring fluid balance using the patient's own abdominal membrane by delivering special fluids to the abdominal cavity. For this treatment to be performed, a thin, soft tube is inserted into the abdominal cavity through a small operation.

Methods of Peritoneal Dialysis:

COPD (Continuous Outpatient Peritoneal Dialysis)

According to the patient's body structure, a special peritoneal dialysis solution amounting to 100-1000 ml in children and 2000-2500 ml in adults is delivered to the abdominal cavity. The solution delivered to the body is drained after staying in the abdominal cavity for about 4-6 hours and replaced with a new solution. In the meantime, waste substances such as urea, creatinine in the blood, and excess fluid in the body pass into the dialysis solution. The dialysis procedure is performed by the patient 4-5 times a day.

Peritoneal dialysis performed in this way is called COPD (Continuous Outpatient Peritoneal Dialysis).

APD (Automated Peritoneal Dialysis) 

The peritoneal dialysis procedure performed at home by machine is called APD (Automated Peritoneal Dialysis). During the night (8-10 hours), while the person sleeps, the machine delivers dialysis fluid to the abdominal cavity, keeps it there for a certain time, and then discharges it.

Kidney Transplantation

It is the transplantation of a healthy kidney from another person to patients with advanced-stage chronic kidney failure. It is necessary to use medications that suppress the immune system to prevent organ rejection after kidney transplantation.

Kidney transplantation is performed in two ways:

• From a Living Donor
• From a Cadaver

All these treatment methods are successfully applied in our hospital.