Long-Term Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Abstract

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) has now been utilized for more than 25 years as a first-line therapy for the treatment of end-stage renal failure. It is now accepted that patient survival on PD is similar to hemodialysis when comparable analyses are made [1, 2]. As we have gathered new knowledge over the past decade, however, about the potential complications associated with long-term therapy, such as structural and functional alterations to the peritoneal membrane and end-stage sclerosing syndromes such as encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS), there remain legitimate concerns as to whether this mode of therapy can provide adequate treatment for end-stage renal disease in the longer term [3]. Despite advances in treatment guidelines there still remains in PD a considerable dropout rate in the early years of therapy, due mainly to infective episodes and membrane dysfunction [4].