Hemodialysis treatment takes 12 hours a week

Image: El Comercio

Patients with chronic renal failure must undergo three sessions a week, of four hours each without fail to stay alive. This is the case of Victor Chele, who a year ago was diagnosed with this disease when he started losing weight. “My kidneys are not working. This machine is the one that does the job, it the one that gives me life,” he says.

At least a litre and a half of blood -two pints,- leave the body during that treatment. All blood must go through this process to be filtered and to remove toxins and excess fluids, something that is not achieved through urine -chronic kidney patients undergoing hemodialysis never urinate again.-

Therefore 12 hours a week of treatment are necessary. Otherwise, consequences may be deadly. By letting one day the body swells by fluid retention. And in a week they may suffer serious cardiac, respiratory, sensory and neurological disorders.

Chele, 31, is part of the nearly 10,000 people who undergo this therapy in the country. This is reflected in the records of the Association of Kidney Patients of Ecuador.

Source: http://www.elcomercio.com/tendencias/hemodialisis-tratamiento-insuficienciarenalcronica-enfermedad-iess.html