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Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis

Treating kidney failure: dialysis and transplants

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Why kidney failure is dangerous, how dialysis removes urea by diffusion and why dialysis fluid contains glucose and salts, the disadvantages of dialysis, and the advantages of a kidney transplant and how rejection is reduced.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What happens to the blood if a person's kidneys fail?

Key term

What is kidney dialysis?

Key term

Explain how urea is removed from the blood during dialysis.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What happens to the blood if a person's kidneys fail?

    Model answer

    Urea, excess water and excess salts build up in the blood and poison the body.

  2. 2

    What is kidney dialysis?

    Model answer

    Dialysis is a treatment in which a machine removes urea, excess water and excess salts from a patient's blood.

  3. 3

    Explain how urea is removed from the blood during dialysis.

    Model answer

    The dialysis fluid contains no urea, so urea diffuses out of the blood down a steep concentration gradient.

  4. 4

    Explain why dialysis fluid contains glucose and salts.

    Model answer

    They are at the same concentration as in healthy blood, so there is no gradient and useful substances are not lost.

  5. 5

    Give two disadvantages of treating kidney failure with dialysis.

    Model answer

    Each session takes several hours and must be repeated regularly, and the patient's diet must be strictly controlled between sessions.

  6. 6

    Give one advantage of a kidney transplant over long-term dialysis.

    Model answer

    A working transplanted kidney allows the patient to live a normal life without regular hospital treatment.

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