Dialysis efficacy and itching in renal failure.

Itching in nondialyzed uremic subjects and patients on dialysis remains incompletely explained and poorly treated. We evaluated our chronic hemo- and peritoneal dialysis patients for this symptom and synthetically reviewed previous reports on itching and renal failure. We found no biochemical correlates of itching but did find that itching was less with better dialysis as defined by urea kinetic modelling. We conclude that improved dialysis techniques will continue to reduce the prevalence of itching in end-stage renal disease patients.