What is HD and how does it work?

Haemodialysis removes wastes and excess fluid outside your body. During a haemodialysis treatment in a dialysis centre, blood is removed from your body and pumped by a machine through a dialyzer.

The dialyzer is the semipermeable membrane that cleans your blood. While having your treatment, you sit or lie next to a haemodialysis machine. A nurse or technician puts two needles into a vein in your forearm called an access. One needle is connected to tubing, which takes your blood out of your body to be cleaned.

Dialysis does not hurt, although some people do feel nauseated or dizzy during parts of the treatment. Mostly, haemodialysis is a quiet time. During treatments, most people keep busy doing things like watching TV, reading or talking.

Most people need haemodialysis three times a week. Each treatment lasts about four hours. Haemodialysis access

To place an access to get your blood, a surgeon will perform an operation to strengthen one of your veins or to put a soft tube inside your arm or thigh.

If possible, the surgeon will attach a vein and an artery together to form a fistula. If your veins are small or weak, the surgeon inserts a graft instead. This is a soft tube connected to an artery on one end and a vein on the other. Both a fistula and a graft are underneath the skin. Placing the access requires a small surgical procedure. A permanent access takes a few months to mature properly before it can be used.