What is peritoneal dialysis (PD)?
Peritoneal dialysis uses the peritoneal cavity in the abdomen. Many people are familiar with hemodialysis, which takes blood out of the body, runs it through an artificial kidney that removes toxins and extra fluid and then returns the cleaned blood back into the body. With PD, instead of cleaning the blood outside of the body, a membrane inside the abdomen called the peritoneum, acts as a filter to remove toxins and fluid in place of the kidneys. A dialysis fluid, called dialysate, is placed into the peritoneal cavity to help pull toxins and fluid across the semipermeable membrane of the peritoneum. After a time, the dialysate is removed and replaced with fresh dialysate, so the process of removing toxins and fluids can be repeated.
