Which Stage Of Renal Failure Should Dialysis Be Started

Renal failure can be divided into 5 stages according to GFR (glomerular filtration rate). Based on the severity of renal damages, different treatments will be sought. When illness conditions progress into the final stage, that is stage 5 renal failure, renal replacement therapies are needed - dialysis or kidney transplant.

In the end stage of renal failure, there are less than 15% kidney functions. The severely damaged kidneys can not remove excess metabolic wastes and toxins from the blood which can cause serious harms to the body or even threaten the patient’s life, therefore dialysis needs to be started to help remove excessive accumulation of water, electrolytes and toxic wastes from the blood, eliminate risk factors and control the illness conditions.

When renal failure enters into the 4th stage, doctors will recommend dialysis and patients will have to make preparation for dialysis treatment such as placing a fistula because it requires some time to mature because stage 4 renal failure may progress into stage 5 renal failure within short time.

For stage 5 renal failure patients, they will develop high creatinine levels. Some patients can have obvious symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, electrolyte disorders, etc. While some patients may have no obvious symptoms and discomforts even when their creatinine is very high. Therefore they want to know whether they need to begin dialysis since they have entered into the final stage of renal failure. The expert’s answer is that creatinine is not the only indicator to begin dialysis. If patients have no obvious symptoms and illness conditions are quite stable, dialysis may not be necessary. However if creatinine is higher than 8, creatinine clearance rate is below 5 and creatinine continues to become even higher, it is recommended that dialysis should be started.

If patients just have dialysis for a short period of time and more effective treatment can help reverse renal damages and improve renal functions such as immunotherapy and Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy, dialysis can be get rid of, therefore patients need not to worry. However if patients only rely on dialysis, their illness will continue to progress and residual kidney functions will continue to be lost and in the end it will be very hard for them to get rid of dialysis.