Abstract
The aim of this paper was to review the feasibility of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in the presence of a permanent suprapubic catheter over a long follow-up period.
Twelve patients with automated PD and permanent suprapubic catheters were studied for complications over a period of 10 years.
In all 12 patients, PD went smoothly. Two of our patients required removal of the PD catheter due to peritonitis. The overall rate of exit-site infection throughout the study was 41.7/patient-month and the difference between patients 60 years or older and those 25 years or younger was not significant (
= 0.3673). The overall peritonitis rate for all patients was 38.3 episode/patient-month, and none of the patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) had peritonitis. All patients with episodes of infection responded well to the proper antibiotics.
The available data supported the feasibility of PD in patients with permanent suprapubic catheters; however, a greater number of patients with a longer follow-up period need to be studied to support our results.