1. When renal function of a person falls below 5 – 7 %, accumulation of harmful substances in blood begins. In such a condition the person has to go for artificial means of filtration of blood i.e. haemodialysis.
2. In haemodialysis, a dialysis machine is used to filter blood. The blood is filtered outside the body using a dialysis unit.
3. In this procedure, the patients’ blood is removed; generally from the radial artery and passed through a cellophane tube that acts as a semipermeable membrane.
4. The tube is immersed in a fluid called dialysate which is isosmotic to normal blood plasma. Hence, only excess salts if present in plasma pass through the cellophane tube into the dialysate.
5. Waste substances being absent in the dialysate, move from blood into the dialyzing fluid.
6. Filtered blood is returned to vein.
7. In this process it is essential that anticoagulant like heparin is added to the blood while it passing through the tube and before resending it into the circulation, adequate amount of antiheparin is mixed.
8. Also, the blood has to move slowly through the tube and hence the process is slow.
