Hemodialysis Shunt
Definition
An artificially laid out vessel between an artery and a vein is called a shunt. Naturally such a shunt does not exist in the body. There are shunts made out of a body´s own vein or made out of synthetic material. In certain cases there can also be a catheter laid out in the abdominal cavity, with which the patient can perform the dialysis on his own at home.
Symptoms
Because of various diseases (eg. Diabetes mellitus), both kidneys, over the course of time, can stop functioning. As a consequence, the body will then be flooded with metabolic products and blood minerals- mainly potassium. The symptoms of the kidney failure can exist undetected for a long span of time. A decrease in the development of red blood pigments causes tiredness, exhaustion, and the concentration of substances that are usually exuded with urine can cause itches. The culmination of potassium causes cardiac dysrhythmias. All this can lead to life threatening conditions. A solution must be created in order clean the blood from those substances.
Therapy
This is done with a so called “access” that makes it possible to decontaminate the blob outside of the body to lead the blood back into the body. For that catheters can be inducted into the bloodstream or the shunts. This shunt is an artificially laid out vessel between an artery and a vein, in which the blood can set back into the heart. This junction can also be called “fistula”. The easiest fistula to lay out and the most used one is the “Cimino fistula” named after its inventor. It is laid out on the forearm close to the hand joint under local anaesthesia. But such a shunt is not functional until after a couple weeks of development, it takes time to develop an efficient flow of blood. In the meantime the dialysis can be done with a “central catheter” at the throat. The disadvantage of catheters: after it has been laid out for a longer time there occur narrowings (stenosis) at the hit vein what lead to decreased flow what in turn affects the dialysis. That is why a good working shunt should always be preferred. A shunt made out of a body´s own vein in favour of a shunt made out of synthetic material, because is can cause repeated problems.