Clinical experience with continuous flow and flow-through peritoneal dialysis.

Concern over the inherent inefficiency of solute removal by conventional peritoneal dialysis (PD) has led to renewed interest in continuous flow PD (CFPD). We present clinical data from two experiences with CFPD. In the first, two catheters were used to recirculate a fixed intraperitoneal volume through an external circuit comprised of a standard hemodialysis system. The second patient had a dual-lumen PD catheter and was studied during two sessions of flow-through PD (FTPD) using sterile PD solution. Urea clearances with both techniques were around 30 ml/min, which is consistent with data reported in the literature. Significant streaming of dialysate from port to port within the peritoneal cavity limited clearances. CFPD offers a potentially safe and effective alternative to daily or nightly home hemodialysis.