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Dialysis

In medicine, dialysis (from Greek "dialusis", meaning dissolution, "dia", meaning through, and "lusis", meaning loosening) is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function (renal replacement therapy) due to renal failure. Dialysis may be used for very sick patients who have suddenly but temporarily, lost their kidney function (acute renal failure) or for quite stable patients who have permanently lost their kidney function (stage 5 chronic kidney disease). When healthy, the kidneys maintain the body's internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfate) and the kidneys remove from the blood the daily metabolic load of fixed hydrogen ions. The kidneys also function as a part of the endocrine system producing erythropoietin and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (calcitriol). Dialysis is an imperfect treatment to replace kidney function because it does not correct the endocrine functions of the kidney. Dialysis treatments replace some of these functions through diffusion (waste removal) and ultrafiltration (fluid removal).

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'Off-the-shelf' artificial blood vessels show promise

(HealthDay)—Artificial blood vessels may one day reduce some complications of dialysis treatment in people with kidney failure, according to the results of early research in animals.

Cardiology created Apr 24, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Targeted C. difficile screening at hospital admission could potentially ID most colonized patients

Testing patients with just three risk factors upon hospital admission has potential to identify nearly three out of four asymptomatic carriers of C. difficile, according to a new study published in the May issue of the Am ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0