Treatments for Kidney Failure

• Dialysis Machines Filter the Blood


  1. Person's blood flows between partially permeable membranes

  2. Waste products diffuse out into dialysis fluid

  3. Useful substances like ions and glucose are retained in the blood

  4. Dialysis fluid has the same dissolved ions and glucose as blood

  5. Only waste substances diffuse across the membrane

  6. Blood flows back to the person
• Dialysis


  • Has to be done regularly to keep the concentrations of substances in the blood at partial levels, and to remove waste substances
  • Many patients with kidney failure have to have a dialysis session 3 times a week
  • Each session takes 3-4 hours
  • Can cause blood clots or infections
  • Not a pleasant experience and expensive for the NHS to run
• Dialysis can buy a patient with kidney failure


  Valuable time until a kidney transplant is found
• Kidney Transplants


  The only cure for kidney failure
• Kidney Transplants


  • Healthy kidneys are usually transplanted from people who have died suddenly
  • The person who died has to be on the organ donor register or carry a donor card
  • Kidneys can also be transplanted from people who are still alive but there is a small risk to the person donating the kidney
  • There is a risk that the donor kidney can be rejected by the patient's immune system
  • Patients are treated with drugs to prevent rejection but it can still happen
  • Transplants are cheaper in the long run than dialysis and can put an end to the hours patients have to spend on dialysis
  • But there are long waiting lists for kidneys