Watch this video by Dr Sandeep Reddy, Senior Consultant Nephrologist & Transplant Physician, Aware Gleneagles Hospital, Hyderabad to know about dialysis and kidney transplantation. 

Dialysis is of two types, one is hemodialysis (can be done in the setting of the hospital) and the second one is chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis or automated peritoneal dialysis (can be done at home by the patient himself). But in the long run, dialysis is associated with morbidity and mortality. It is associated with so many complications that young patients may have the deterioration of health when they are on long term dialysis. Kidney transplantation is the best option possible for CKD stage 5 patients. 

Kidney transplantation is of two types depending on the donor. If a donor is available within the family of the patient (eg. spouse, parents below 60 years, siblings or children above 18 years), it will be a live related transplantation. Or the second option is donation from a brain dead patient whose family has given their consent to donate their organs. Such a case is called a deceased donor renal transplantation. 

A successful transplant avoids dialysis, improves the quality of life and improves life expectancy in patients. Irrespective of the type of kidney transplantation the patient undergoes, i.e. live transplant or cadaver transplant, the patient needs immunosuppression medication for lifetime along with regular follow ups with the doctor.