Due to variation in patient size and body composition or levels of requirement ranging from pediatric to geriatric, there are numerous treatment options that can be tailor made to suit each individual patient.
The variations of peritoneal dialysis that Lucenxia offer include;
1) Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) – manual exchange
2) Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) – automated exchange
3) Intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD) – chronic use
4) Tidal peritoneal dialysis (TPD) – optimized adequacy
Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD)
Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) is a programmable dialysis process, which usually perform at night during patient is asleep. Patient need to their connect catheter to a machine called APD cycler. The machine will automatically perform the exchanges while you sleep. The process consists of three phases:
1. Fill: fresh dialysis solution will fill into the peritoneum cavity
2.Dwell: the solution will left in the cavity for a programmed dwell time. During “Dwell” time, the exchange of waste and fluids will take place to extract toxins or waste products from the body.
3. Drain: the dialysis solution will then drain out from the abdomen into a bag.
The process will refill your abdomen with clean dialysis solution and begin the process again. In most cases, a standard APD process will perform three to five exchanges overnight and takes about 9 hours. As the process takes place when patient is asleep, patient will have the freedom to perform activity or take up a full time job during day time without any intercedence of dialysis routine.
Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD)
Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis uses the natural gravity pull to do the exchanges, without cycler. Patient will need to sit on a chair and attached to dialysis solution that hanging above. Gravity forces will pull the dialysis solution from the bag to the peritoneum cavity and allow enough amount of dwell time, this usually takes around four to six hours. The patient will then connect to a drainage bag and drain the waste solution by gravity pulls. Unlike automated peritoneal dialysis, CAPD exchanges are manual exchanges, patient will need to perform four to five exchanges a day to ensure continuous removal of waste from the body. Because patient need to manually connect to the dialysis bag and sit at a position to allow the gravity pulls, CAPD must be done during the day when patient is awake. The process can be performed at any clean and dry place with dialysis solution and equipment.
