treatments for kidney failure

• dialysis can be used to keep concentrations of dissolved substances normal levels in people whose kidneys don't work and to remove waste products
• in a dialysis machine the persons blood flows between partially permeable membranes surrounded by dialysis fluid
• the membranes of dialysis tubes are permeable to water and ions and waste products but not to proteins just like a real kidney
• the surrounding dialysis fluid has the same concentration of ions and glucose as blood so ions and glucose won't diffuse across the membrane
• only waste substances like urea, salt and water will diffuse across the partially permeable membrane. and the dialysis fluid moves in the opposite direction to the blood to keep the concentration gradient steep
• another treatment for kidney failure is a kidney transplant which is a surgical procedure where a healthy kidney is transplanted into a patient
• the benefit of a kidney transplant is it is an actual cure for kidney failure
• the negatives of kidney transplants are they are risky and can be rejected by the patients immune system
• the negatives of dialysis it is painful and has to happen 3 times a week and takes 3-4 hours it is also expensive for the NHS