Dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that rids your body of unwanted toxins, waste products and excess fluids by filtering your blood. When kidneys fail, your body may have difficulty cleaning your blood and keeping your system chemically balanced.
The life expectancy on dialysis can vary depending on your other medical conditions and how well you follow your treatment plan.
This type of procedure is very important to an individual with Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) which has the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) with a glomerular filtrate rate (GFR) of 15ml/min or less. At this advanced stage of kidney disease, the kidneys have lost nearly all their function, and eventually, it requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to live.
HOW IT WORKS
- Blood is diverted into an external machine, filtered and then returned back to the body.
- The dialysis machine is made up of a series of membranes that act as filters and a special fluid called dialysate.
- The used dialysate fluid is pumped out of the dialyser, and the filtered blood is passed back into your body through the second needle.
Types of Dialysis
- It is the most common type of dialysis
- Peritoneal dialysis. It involves surgery to implant a peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter into your abdomen.
- Continuous renal replacement therapy(CRRT)
With most people needing up to 3 sessions of haemodialysis a week, with each session lasting around 4 hours a portable haemodialysis machine would be very ideal allowing the patient to be active for the 4 hours instead of being confined on a chair.
The NxStage System One is the first and only truly portable haemodialysis system cleared for home use in the United States, including solo haemodialysis during waking hours, and nocturnal haemodialysis, while both patient and care partner sleep. It was specifically designed for patients to use in their homes, and is small enough to allow patients to travel and bring their treatment supplies with them.
1.Catridge
- The easy-to-use drop-in cartridge allows for easy set-up and wipe-down after treatments.
- System One Cycler
- This is the heart of systems that contains the fluid pumps and system controls
- The simple interface is easy to understand and use
- Its portability gives you the freedom to dialyze in any room of your house
- PureFlow SL
- Created dialysate using a combination of purified tap water and concentrated dialysate.
- It requited an electrical outlet and a tap connection to operate, unlike convention haemodialysis systems.
3.Nx2me Connected Health
- Shows treatment data on easy to read iPad screen
- Immediate access to information to address any alarms that may come up during treatment.
This type of technology has revolutionized the field of digital medicine and has greatly helped in the comfortability of patients on dialysis. With countries developing lighter versions of portable haemodialysis, this technology is deemed to save the patients from the stress of having to visit the hospital and turning them into their own personal caregivers. AWAK Technologies is one of the many companies coming up with better versions that are lighter for the dialysis patients to use so that they are able to travel whenever and wherever they wish to go without having to worry about their treatment being disrupted. Other companies include; Sweden’s Triomed, US firm Wearable Artificial Organs and Dutch start-up Nanodialys- all looking into ways to make wearable dialysis machines.
A Singaporean company is offering new hope with its work on a portable artificial kidney weighing just 2-3 kilograms. Advances in technology are beginning to drive more human and machine interaction in health care. The artificial kidney, worn externally, consists of a permanent pump and a disposable cartridge that acts as an advanced filter to clear toxins from the body. With the rest of the world in a survival mode, medical health companies are still catering for patients with other complications. People may be dying every day of COVID but that doesn’t erase the fact that diabetes is also killing us. Overall health is very important. If such technologies are introduced in Uganda and East Africa, a burden will be lifted from the healthcare system.
Thoughts.
The one question on my mind is why not us? Why do we have to be the developing country with amazingly low COVID cases and “well put” response team and be lacking in the revolutionary gadgets that are proven to improve the lives of diabetic patients? Why are we even considered as a developing country when we are not going anywhere? Maybe we should be considered as a stagnant country.
