It is usual, therefore, to apply a team approach to managing patients with failing kidneys. If kidney disease progresses and your kidneys fail, your blood will need to be artificially filtered. You need to understand the pros and cons of each kind of treatment, and you should participate in selecting a treatment option. If things don't work out well with one therapy, you can change to another until a satisfactory long-term plan is worked out. During hemodialysis, blood is pumped to a filtering machine outside the body.
Unfiltered blood is taken from an artery, usually in the arm.
It goes into the filtering machine, where waste products pass through a membrane into a washing solution. The filtered blood is returned to the body through a vein. The typical hemodialysis treatment plan requires three weekly treatments lasting 3 to 6 hours each. This is usually done in a clinic, but motivated people can be trained to perform selfhemodialysis at home in 1 to 2 months. This gives them freedom in scheduling treatments.