Dialysis - Principle, Advantages and Disadvantages

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Medicine - Biomedical Engineering, University Lübeck, course: Medizintechnik, language: English, abstract: Diseases of the kidney like glomerulonephritis, pyelonephritis and polycystic kidneys can constrain the function of the kidney, depending on the type of disease a kidney failure can occur. When kidneys stop working or when less than 15% of the kidneys are working this is called kidney failure. As a result toxic substances as for example urea are accumulated in the body, this leads to symptons such as headache, loss of appetite and high blood pressure. The two main reasons of kidney failure are Diabetis and high blood pressure. So especially all diabetics have to take care of screening for complications every year. In this thesis Dialysis, the treatment of kidney failure, and the principle that is behind it will be discussed in detail.