Single center success with a high risk peritoneal dialysis population.

A large end stage renal failure population treated by chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) was examined for rates of infection, CAPD modality failure and patient survival (N = 347). Nearly half were considered high risk for survival for reasons of age (39% older than 60 years), diabetes mellitus (33%), hemodialysis access failure (10%), poor cardiopulmonary reserve (16%) or technical challenges (30% had morbid obesity, history of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair or multiple abdominal surgeries). Hence, CAPD was often initiated by default rather than choice in the 347 patients studied (mean age: 51 +/- 17 years). Infections greatly outnumbered technical failures as grounds for cessation of CAPD. Over 5521 patient-months, 51% of patients developed infection with peritonitis predominating (80%) when compared to exit site infections (20%). The frequency of infections was 1.9 mean episodes per patient; however, 55% of these patients had only one episode of peritonitis. A rate of 0.75 infections per patient per year was seen with an average interval of 16 months between infections. Technique and patient survival rates at 4 years were 50% and 61% respectively. High risk status does not preclude successful CAPD and should not preclude its implementation.