The difference in causes of early and late ultrafiltration failure in peritoneal dialysis

OBJECTIVE: Ultrafiltration failure (UFF) is a major complication of peritoneal dialysis. Although it seems associated with long-term treatment, it can also occur in recently started patients. To identify the causes of this complication in patients with early and late UFF we studied a group of 48 patients. Patients were classified as early if they had been treated for less than 2 years and as late if they had been treated for more than 4 years. METHOD: The patients were studied using a standard peritoneal permeability analysis. They all had a net ultrafiltration of less than 400 mL after a 4-hour dwell with 3.86% glucose. As possible causes for UFF, the solute transport parameters dialysate-to-plasma ratio (D/P) and mass transfer area coefficient of creatinine were compared, as well as the effective lymphatic absorption rate (ELAR) and the maximum dip in D/P sodium as an assessment of osmotic conductance to glucose. RESULTS: 25 short-term patients were compared with 23 long-term patients. Both groups showed an equal distribution of high small solute transport rates as a cause of UFF. The chi-square test showed that a high ELAR was a more frequent cause in early UFF compared to late UFF. However, a decreased osmotic conductance to glucose was significantly more often observed in late UFF. Some patients showed more than one cause of the complication. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that UFF in long-term patients is often caused by a decreased osmotic conductance to glucose, most likely caused by a dysfunction of peritoneal water channels in combination with increased peritoneal surface area. In short-term patients, aquaporin dysfunction is rare, but a high ELAR was a very important factor in the occurrence of UFF