Treatment

Haemodialysis is an effective treatment for removing excess water and waste products from the body, using a machine, during kidney failure. Haemodialysis usually takes place three or more times a week at your child’s paediatric nephrology unit, a specialised unit at the hospital.

An arteriovenous fistula joins two types of blood vessels to make one large, stronger blood vessel, usually at the wrist or elbow. A fistula provides access to your child's bloodstream for haemodialysis treatment.

A major treatment for children with kidney failure – a donor's healthy kidney is transplanted into the body.

A deceased donor is someone who has recently died and whose healthy kidney is quickly removed to be transplanted.

A living donor is someone who donates one of his or her healthy kidneys.