Peritoneal Dialysis

STEP BY STEP
Remove waste from your blood

Dialysis is an artificial way to remove harmful waste and excess salt and
fluid from your blood when your kidneys can no longer do so on their
own. Peritoneal dialysis is one type of dialysis.
With peritoneal dialysis, the network of tiny blood vessels in your
abdomen (peritoneal cavity) is used to filter your blood. Peritoneal
dialysis can be done manually throughout the day or with a machine at
night. Some people use a combination of both methods.
Here you'll see automated peritoneal dialysis. With this type of
peritoneal dialysis, you must be attached to the dialysis machine for 10
to 12 hours at night. The trade-off is greater flexibility during the day.
Peritoneal dialysis catheter

Before you start peritoneal dialysis, a surgeon places a plastic tube

(catheter) into your abdomen. Your doctor will probably recommend
waiting at least a month before starting treatment to give the area time to
heal.
The peritoneal catheter will exit your abdomen a few inches from your
navel (A). You normally cover the catheter with a sterile dressing (B).
 Prepare the cycler
Before each nightly treatment session, you place a cassette into a
machine called an automated cycler. The cassette contains several tubes
that connect to bags of dialysis solution inside the cycler and also to a
sterile drainage bag.
While you rest or sleep, the cycler fills your abdomen with dialysis
solution, allows the solution to dwell there, and then drains the solution to
a sterile drainage bag you empty in the morning.
Connect to the machine

After loading the tubing cassette and

dialysis solution, you wash your hands,
cover your mouth and nose with a mask,
and put on gloves to avoid
contaminating the peritoneal dialysis
catheter or tubing. Then you connect the
catheter to the tubing that leads to the
cycler
 Bedtime
When you're ready to begin your treatment, get into
bed. If you're not ready to sleep, you can read or
watch television while the first round of dialysis fluid
enters your body.
You can sleep in your normal position, as long as
there's enough slack in the tubing between the
peritoneal dialysis catheter and dialysis machine (see
arrow). Don't worry about moving during the night. An
alarm built into the dialysis machine will alert you if
there's a problem, such as kinked tubing.
If you wake up in the morning before your treatment is
complete, you can sit in a chair beside your bed until
the last batch of dialysis fluid leaves your body.
 Time to disconnect

When your treatment is complete,

you disconnect the peritoneal
dialysis catheter from the dialysis
machine. As before, you wash your
hands and wear a mask and gloves
to keep bacteria away from the
opening of the catheter
 Cover with a sterile cap

Once the catheter is disconnected from

the dialysis machine, you place a sterile
cap on the end of the catheter to help
prevent infection. After you empty the
drainage bag containing used dialysis
solution, you're free to go about your
usual activities until your next treatment
session