Haemodialysis (Including Holiday Dialysis)

Haemodialysis cleans the blood when the kidneys can no longer do so. Blood is pumped from your body through a filter called a dialyser, where waste products, excess salt and water pass across a membrane into dialysis fluid, and the cleaned blood is returned to you.

It replaces roughly 10 to 15 percent of normal kidney function, enough to keep you alive and reasonably well, but it does not cure kidney failure. It has to be repeated, usually three times a week, for life or until a transplant.

What Haemodialysis (Including Holiday Dialysis) involves

You first need vascular access: ideally an arteriovenous fistula, created by a small operation in the arm several months in advance, or otherwise a graft or a tunnelled catheter in a neck vein. At each session you are weighed, your blood pressure is taken and the nurse places two needles in the fistula or connects the catheter. The machine draws blood at around 300 to 400 ml per minute through the dialyser, with heparin to stop clotting, and removes the fluid you have gained since the last session. After about 4 hours the blood is returned, needles are removed and the sites are pressed until bleeding stops. Monthly blood tests check how well dialysis is working.

Who is a good candidate for Haemodialysis (Including Holiday Dialysis)?

Dialysis is started when kidney failure causes symptoms or dangerous blood results, typically when filtration has fallen to around 5 to 10 percent of normal.

• People with end-stage kidney disease who are not yet transplanted or not suitable for transplant
• People who prefer treatment to be carried out by nurses in a unit
• Severe acute kidney injury, as a temporary bridge until the kidneys recover
• Dialysis patients who want to travel and need sessions booked at their destination (holiday dialysis)
• Certain poisonings and dangerous potassium or fluid overload

It is usually not the right choice if:

• People with very low blood pressure or severe heart failure who cannot tolerate fluid removal, for whom peritoneal dialysis may be gentler
• People with no usable blood vessels for access
• Those who value independence and flexible timing and could manage home therapies
• Frail people with very limited life expectancy, who may feel better with conservative care without dialysis
• Anyone hoping to move abroad for cheaper long-term dialysis without residency and local follow-up arrangements

Technique options

• In-centre haemodialysis: Three sessions a week of about 4 hours in a dialysis unit; the usual arrangement.
• Haemodiafiltration (HDF): Adds convection to remove larger molecules; widely available in Türkiye and may offer a modest survival benefit at high volumes.
• Home haemodialysis: Shorter, more frequent sessions at home after training; not suitable for visitors.
• Holiday dialysis: Your regular schedule continued in a unit at your destination, arranged several weeks ahead with your home unit's paperwork.

What happens during your treatment

A session lasts 3.5 to 4.5 hours. Needle insertion stings; local anaesthetic cream can help. During treatment you sit or lie in a chair and can read, sleep or eat a snack. Some people get cramps, a drop in blood pressure, headache or nausea, particularly if a lot of fluid has to come off. Many feel washed out for a few hours afterwards.

Preparing for your trip

For holiday dialysis, ask at least 4 to 6 weeks ahead. The receiving unit needs a recent dialysis prescription, dry weight, access details, medication list, recent blood results, and hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV tests, often with MRSA or similar screening, done within the past 1 to 3 months. Sessions are then booked on your usual three days a week. Carry your records and confirm who pays, since home insurers and health systems vary.

• Tell the doctor about medication, allergies, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and any history of cold sores, keloid scars or autoimmune disease
• Avoid alcohol, aspirin and anti-inflammatory painkillers for a few days beforehand if your own doctor agrees, to reduce bruising
• Arrive without make-up on the treatment area and avoid sunbeds and strong sun for two weeks before

Recovery and results

There is no recovery period in the usual sense because treatment is continuous. A new fistula needs 6 to 12 weeks, sometimes longer, to mature before it can be needled. Most people adapt to the routine over the first 2 to 3 months as fluid balance and appetite improve. Between sessions you limit fluid, salt, potassium and phosphate according to your blood results, and protect the fistula arm from blood pressure cuffs and needles.

• Back to everyday activity: A few hours of tiredness after each session
• When results show: Symptoms improve over the first weeks
• How long they last: Only while treatment continues

Safety, risks and revision policy

Haemodialysis is routine and closely monitored, but it carries long-term burdens and some specific risks.

• Low blood pressure, cramps, headache and fatigue during or after sessions
• Infection, especially with tunnelled catheters, which can spread to the blood or heart valves
• Fistula or graft narrowing and clotting that need repeated procedures
• Bleeding from needle sites
• Heart rhythm problems related to shifts in potassium and fluid
• Exposure to blood-borne viruses, which is why units screen and may isolate visitors
• Long-term heart and vessel disease, which remains the main cause of death on dialysis

Every written proposal arranged through Clinic-Y states what the clinic covers if a correction is needed. Ask for it before you book, not after.

Cost of Haemodialysis (Including Holiday Dialysis) in Türkiye

Clinic-Y does not publish a single price for Haemodialysis (Including Holiday Dialysis), because the honest figure depends on your case. What moves it:

• Number of sessions and whether standard haemodialysis or HDF is used
• Screening blood tests and any isolation machine required for visitors
• Extra medicines such as erythropoietin or iron given during sessions
• Whether your insurer or national health system reimburses treatment abroad

Send your photographs or reports and you receive written, all-inclusive proposals from suitable teams, side by side. Reviewing your case is free.

Frequently Asked Questions