Q: My father, 50 years old, has kidney failure. When we admit him in the hospital the blood urea was 187 and blood creatinine was 12.2 mg/dl. The doctor advised haemodialysis and after a month of regular dialysis (twice weekly) the blood urea level reduced to 51 and creatinine reduced to 2.1 mg/dl. I have heard that regular dialysis affects the health. Could you please advise whether or not we should continue dialysis? What are the medical tests to be taken to know the kidney functioning?

A:Urea and creatinine do decrease with regular dialysis but if the kidney function is less than 15%, and continues to remain so, then dialysis has to continue. This condition is called chronic kidney failure, usually diagnosed by your doctor by specific history, clinical examination and lab tests. To test how much is the function of your kidneys can be tested by 24 hours urine creatinine clearance as wall as rate of rise in urea and creatinine between two dialysis sessions. Your nephrologist can help you determine this.