- Uremia: Accumulation of urea in blood due to malfunction of kidney. It may lead to kidney failure (renal failure).
- Renal calculi: Stone or insoluble mass of crystallized salts (oxalates, etc.) formed within the kidney.
- Glomerulonephritis: Inflammation of glomeruli.
Hemodialysis
- It is a process of removal of urea in patients with uremia.
- The dialyzing unit (artificial kidney) contains a coiled cellophane tube surrounded by dialyzing fluid. It has same composition of plasma except nitrogenous wastes.
- Blood drained from a convenient artery is pumped into dialyzing unit after adding anticoagulant like heparin.
- The porous cellophane membrane of the tube allows the passage of molecules based on concentration gradient.
- As nitrogenous wastes are absent in dialyzing fluid, these substances freely move out, thereby clearing the blood.
- The purified blood is pumped back to the body through a vein after adding anti-heparin to it.
Kidney Transplantation
- It is the ultimate method in the correction of acute renal failures.
- A functioning kidney is taken from a donor.
- It is better to receive kidney from a close relative to minimize chances of rejection by immune system of host.