Dialysis
Overview
 
In medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, dialysis (from Greek "dialusis", meaning dissolution, "dia", meaning through, and "lysis", meaning loosening) is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement
Renal replacement therapy
Renal replacement therapy is a term used to encompass life-supporting treatments for renal failure.It includes:*hemodialysis,*peritoneal dialysis,*hemofiltration and*renal transplantation.These treatments will not cure chronic kidney disease...

 for lost kidney function
Renal function
Renal function, in nephrology, is an indication of the state of the kidney and its role in renal physiology. Glomerular filtration rate describes the flow rate of filtered fluid through the kidney...

 in people with renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...

. Dialysis may be used for those with an acute disturbance in kidney function (acute kidney injury, previously acute renal failure) or for those with progressive but chronically worsening kidney function–a state known as chronic kidney disease stage 5 (previously chronic renal failure or end-stage kidney disease).
 
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