Dialysis is a treatment for those who have significant loss of the function of their kidneys. There are many reasons a person can lose kidney function, among them injuries, renal failure, or other types of kidney diseases. When a person has lost kidney function over a long time, as with chronic kidney disease, there is usually no hope for improvement and dialysis is seen as a temporary stop measure until a kidney transplant can be obtained.
Acute kidney injury, on the other hand can be caused by trauma which hopefully can be reversed with treatment, and with luck a transplant can be avoided.
The kidneys play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the body. Without functioning kidneys it would be impossible for the body to maintain the perfect and necessary equilibrium between water and the various minerals such as sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfate and more. The kidneys also excrete the various end-products of metabolism which are not exuded during respiration. In addition, the kidneys are part of the endocrine system. They produce the hormones erythropoietin and calcitriol. The former plays a part in the production of red blood cells, and the latter aids in the formation of bones.
It is important to note that although dialysis replaces the cleansing and balancing functions of the kidneys, it cannot aid in the production of the endocrine hormones mentioned.
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