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Blood treatments and dialysis

Blood Treatment and dialysis

Blood treatments and dialysis abroad can help you locate specialist testing, diagnosis and blood cleansing centres overseas. Blood cleansing, also referred to as dialysis, is the process of cleansing the blood of substances such as water, salts and waste products, by passing it through a machine. Dialysis becomes necessary when the kidneys are not able to sufficiently filter the blood themselves and gives patients with kidney failure the ability to live a more active and fuller life.

There are two main types of dialysis: the first, hemodialysis, is where the blood is cleaned outside of the body, and while it can be used for treating acute kidney failure, it’s more commonly applied to treating patients with renal failure or chronic renal disease, and various toxic conditions. Hemodialysis employs a dialysis machine to push the patient’s blood from the body through the machine for filtration, and then it is returned to the patient’s circulation. This type of dialysis requires access to the patient’s blood stream.

The second type of dialysis is peritoneal dialysis. This treatment requires a dialysis fluid to be entered into the patient’s abdominal cavity (belly) and into the intestines. This flushes the impurities from the blood and into the fluid.

Common blood treatment and dialysis procedures

As noted previously, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are the two main forms of treatment. There are also two type of peritoneal dialysis; these are continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) which has manual exchanges; and automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), which done automatically by machine.

Destinations

A full list of available destinations for blood treatment and dialysis is located in the search box to the right.

Useful links

Find more in-depth information on blood treatment and dialysis at:

Kidney research UK - www.kidneyresearchuk.org

British Renal Association - www.britishrenal.org

The Kidney Transplant/Dialysis Association - users.rcn.com/​ktda1

American Association of Kidney Patients - www.aakp.org

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Page last updated: Monday, 23rd November 2009