Without healthy kidneys, your body would quickly fill with toxins, causing it to shut down. To prevent this buildup, these two fist-sized organs are continuously working to filter out waste substances from biological processes and pass them out of the body in your urine. For people who suffer from kidney failure, an alternative method is needed to emulate this essential task. Dialysis machines, which were invented in 1943, divert blood out of the body to be cleaned before being returned to the body. Because the body is continually producing waste, patients who depend on dialysis usually undergo four hours of treatment approximately three times a week.
During the process, the machine is attached to a needle, often placed in the arm, through which blood can be extracted and returned. As the blood enters the dialysis machine, it passes along a layer of membranes. These membranes have microscopic holes that only water and waste molecules can filter through. Because of this, no blood cells are lost to the machine – they simply take a diversion on their circulatory course.
The dialysis machine’s fluid, called dialysate, consists of water, electrolytes and salts. Mimicking the concentration of body fluid found outside of your body’s cells, dialysate draws waste products across the membrane in a process called diffusion. Because the waste molecules are in higher concentrations in the blood, they pass from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. When the blood is returned to the vein, it’s in a similar condition to filtered blood that has passed through the kidneys.
ãã®èšäºã¯ How It Works UK ã® Issue 179 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã ?  ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ãã®èšäºã¯ How It Works UK ã® Issue 179 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã? ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
A sleeping subduction zone could swallow the Atlantic
A subduction zone below the Gibraltar Strait is creeping westward and could one day âinvadeâ the Atlantic Ocean, causing the ocean to slowly close up.
ANIMALS ON THE BRINK
Meet some of the most critically endangered animals from around the world and discover why they're on the brink of extinction
WHAT ARE ULTRAPROCESSED FOODS?
Some natural products are drastically transformed by the food industry, and regularly eating them can affect our health
WHAT IS THE SMELL OF RAIN?
After rainfall, this distinctive aroma is released from the soil
WHY JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT IS VANISHING
Jupiterâs complex weather system is sapping its famous red spot at an alarming rate. And scientists predict the feature could vanish within our lifetimes
INSECT INSPIRATION
Why flies have had an impact on science
HOW DIALYSIS MACHINES WORK
These lifesaving devices take over the role of failing kidneys
Hundreds of ancient, invisible structures discovered near our galaxy's centre
Astronomers have discovered hundreds of strange, string-like structures at the centre of our galaxy, possibly tracing the violent path of an ancient black hole eruption
A lung cancer pill drastically cuts the risk of death after surgery
A once-daily pill halved peopleâs risk of dying from a common lung cancer when they took the drug after tumour-removal surgery, new trial data shows
'Reanimated' hearts can be successfully transplanted
A method for âreanimatingâ organ donorsâ hearts works just as well as the standard approach to collecting hearts for transplantation, new trial data shows. If widely applied, the method could increase the heart donor pool by an estimated 30 per cent