Dialysate flow rate and peritoneal clearance.

We evaluated the influence of dialysate flow rates upon peritoneal clearance of urea, creatine, protein losses into dialysate, glucose disappearance from dialysate, sodium removal from the patient during dialysis, and ultrafiltration rate in 64 patients undergoing intermittent peritoneal dialysis. We evaluated three dialysate flow rates: 2 L/h, 3 L/h, and 4 L/h. All dialysate contained 1.5% glucose. The clearance of urea in milliliters per minute (2-L series 14.0, 3-L series 15.1, 4-L series 17.6) and creatinine in milliliters per minute (2-L series 9.3, 3-L series 10.6, 4-L series 11.6) determined at a dialysate flow rate of 4 L/h was significantly greater than the clearances determined at 3 and 2 L/h of dialysate flow (P less than 0.05). The clearance of glucose from the peritoneal cavity in milliliters per minute (2-L series 6.9, 3-L series 7.9, 4-L series 8.9) was significantly greater for the 4-L series as compared with the 2-L series (P less than 0.05). There were no other significant differences. Neither sex, race, previous episodes of peritonitis, nor etiology of renal failure influenced the results. Given the high cost of dialysate, we recommend dialysate flows of 2 L/h if a patient has a residual renal clearance of 2.5 mL/min. Although increasing dialysate flow rate may compensate for renal clearances significantly less than this, we believe the patient should be offered hemodialysis, continuous cyclic peritoneal dialysis (CCPD), or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).