Failure of icodextrin to provide adequate ultrafiltration in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients.

Icodextrin, a starch-derived glucose polymer with an average molecular weight of 20,000 D, has been developed partly as a response to some of the disadvantages of dextrose. It has been suggested that icodextrin solutions are able to provide sustained ultrafiltration (UF) over long dwell times of 8-12 hours in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). In this paper we describe three patients on CAPD: 2 males and 1 female aged 60, 67, and 58 years respectively, duration on CAPD 47, 60, and 15 months respectively. All of these patients, who were categorized as high transporters according to peritoneal equilibration test (PET) results, presented early signs of ultrafiltration loss with no evidence of peritoneal inflammation. Icodextrin solution was used in a single nightly exchange with 10-12 hours' dwell, for a period of 5-30 days. In all of these cases, icodextrin solution failed to provide adequate ultrafiltration and the patients returned to the previously used regime of five daily hypertonic exchanges of 3.86% glucose concentration. Although these negative results were not clearly explained, we report these three cases because they exemplify some limitations of icodextrin solution to provide adequate ultrafiltration, at least in a small number of CAPD patients.