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What is dialysis or an artificial kidney?
Dialysis is a filtration process. In 1961, Thomas Graham discovered that a parchment membrane immersed in water allowed salts to pass through while retaining proteins. Depending on their composition substances flowed through the membrane at different rates. This process forms the basis of modern dialysis techniques.
Through a dialysis membrane, waste products generated by the body's activities are removed from the blood. The dialysis membrane can be made of an artificial material (then this method is called hemodialysis), or the body's own natural membrane, the peritoneum (in this case it's called peritoneal dialysis).
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What is peritoneal dialysis (PD)?
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) utilizes the peritoneum as natural filter to cleanse the blood of waste products.
A soft tube, or catheter, is surgically inserted into the abdominal wall to facilitate this process.
The catheter remains permanently in place.
What is hemodialysis?
Hemodialysis is a procedure that purifies the blood by passing it through a filter known as an "artificial kidney" or dialyzer.