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