Hemodialysis

Hemodialysis mimics the kidney's function in cleaning and filtering wastes products and excessive fluid from the blood. The dialyzer filters your blood a small amount at a time, allowing wastes and extra fluids to pass from your blood into a cleansing fluid called dialysate. Each session of hemodialysis takes around four hours and the patient usually goes to the dialysis center for at least two to three times a week.
 
Before hemodialysis treatments can begin, the doctor will need to prepare the vascular access where blood can flow in and out of your body by using either of the following procedures:

1. 1. AV fistula - An artery and a vein are joined together in the arm (fistula) to create a native access.
   2. AV Graft - An artificial vessel is used to join the artery and vein to create artificial access.
   3. Catheter access - A plastic catheter is temporary inserted into a large vein to be used as an access for dialysis.

Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD)

This technique uses dialysis fluids to filter wastes via catheter placed in your abdomen. This type of dialysis is more convenient for some patients and can be done daily at home or office.