In medicine, dialysis (from Greek Dialysis, "dissolution"; from, dia, "through", and, lysis, "loosening or splitting") is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally. This is referred to as renal replacement therapy.Dialysis is used in patients with rapidly developing loss of kidney function, called acute kidney injury (previously called acute renal failure), or slowly worsening kidney function, called Stage 5 chronic kidney disease (previously called chronic kidney failure, end-stage renal disease, and end-stage kidney disease).