How long do patients live on dialysis

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Back to Daily Briefing. Whether or not a kidney transplant is the correct treatment for any specific patient is a changing question in terms of upper age or cause of kidney disease. When dialysis treatment was first introduced, being older than 45 meant absolute exclusion from therapy.

Today, the average age of new dialysis patients in the United States is 64 years. Similarly, kidney transplants are now being performed in very old patients as well as in many instances when the cause of ESRD was considered reason to refuse a transplant.

The wait for a deceased kidney donor in New York, for example, is now nearly 10 years, meaning some dialysis patients on the wait list will not live long enough to get the desired transplant. Without question, the best choice, just about always, is to receive a well matched live donor kidney. In my experience, I care for kidney recipients who are cheerful and fully functional more than 30 years after their transplant.

It is unusual for those on dialysis to sustain a near normal life after 20 years. On the clearly positive side, the outlook for both dialysis and transplant patients is continuously improving.

It is needed when your own kidneys can no longer take care of your body's needs. Usually, but not always. Some kinds of acute kidney failure, also known as acute renal failure, get better after treatment.

In some cases of acute kidney failure, dialysis may only be needed for a short time until the kidneys get better. In chronic or end stage kidney failure, your kidneys do not get better and you will need dialysis for the rest of your life. If your doctor says you are a candidate, you may choose to be placed on a waiting list for a new kidney.

Dialysis can be done in a hospital, in a dialysis unit that is not part of a hospital, or at home. You and your doctor will decide which place is best, based on your medical condition and your wishes. In hemodialysis, an artificial kidney hemodialyzer is used to remove waste and extra chemicals and fluid from your blood.

To get your blood into the artificial kidney, the doctor needs to make an access entrance into your blood vessels. This is done by minor surgery to your arm or leg. Sometimes, an access is made by joining an artery to a vein under your skin to make a bigger blood vessel called a fistula.

However, if your blood vessels are not adequate for a fistula, the doctor may use a soft plastic tube to join an artery and a vein under your skin. This is called a graft. Occasionally, an access is made by means of a narrow plastic tube, called a catheter, which is inserted into a large vein in your neck.

This type of access may be temporary, but is sometimes used for long-term treatment. A type of hemodialysis called high-flux dialysis may take less time. You can speak to your doctor to see if this is an appropriate treatment for you. In this type of dialysis, your blood is cleaned inside your body.