Kidney Failure

Noadswood Science, 2012

Kidney Failure

To know medical treatments for kidney failure

Friday, April 21, 2023

Kidney Failure

The kidneys remove waste substances from the blood – should the kidneys fail there are two options: -

1. Dialysis treatment

2. Kidney transplant

Research

Research how kidney dialysis and kidney transplants work, and the advantages and disadvantages of both…

Dialysis

Dialysis machines filter the blood if a patient’s kidneys do not work (blood flows along a selectively permeable barrier) – this must be repeated 3x a week (at 4 hours per session until a suitable donor can be found)

Transplant

Sometimes a kidney transplant might be possible, however there are variety of risks, specifically transplanted organs may be rejected – foreign antigens on the donor kidney are attacked by the patient’s antibodies

To reduce this tissue types are matched closely and immune suppressive drugs are used