In-Center treatment has the benefit of being administered by dialysis staff such as nurses and dialysis technicians.  Another advantage of In-Center treatment is that you your treatment session are with other dialysis patients who are receiving treatment at the same time.  In-Center patient dialysis has set days and times scheduled in advance and is commonly done three times weekly. 

Hemodialysis can be preformed at home. This offers more of a flexible schedule, but requires assistance of a care partner.  Both patient and care partner complete a six week training course through the outpatient dialysis clinic.  The home hemodialysis treatment times are four to five hours five days each week.   The home dialysis machines are much smaller than the in-center ones requiring longer treatment times. 

A small flexible short catheter tube is surgically placed in the lower abdomen into the peritoneal cavity.  A small portion extends to the outside of the body.  A sterile fluid called Dialysate is is placed into the peritoneal cavity through the catheter.  The natural peritoneal membranes acts as filters to remove waste and fluid from the blood.  PD requires a training course through the dialysis units to be completed before patients start their own treatment sessions at home.  

CAPD is done at home or work.  It does not require equipment such as a dialysis machine.  Patients use bags of fluid (Dialysate) and perform four to five exchanges each day.  The Dialysate is connected to the catheter using a long tube that allows the Dialysate to flow into the peritoneal cavity.  Fluid stays in the peritoneal cavity for about four to eight hours.  Once time is completed, the fluid is drained and clean fluid is replaced.  This action is referred to as an "Exchange" 

This tye of dialysis uses a machine to perform the exhanges at night while sleeping for about 10 to 12 hours.  A day exchange may still be required.  The line that connects you to the machine is called "the cycler".  The cycler fills the peritoneal cavity with the fluid (Dialysate) for one to three hours at a time, drains the old fluid, and replaces it with new fluid.  This process is repeated several times during the night.