Peritoneal dialysis in a Moroccan center: Prevalence and complications

Abstract

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 Introduction: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is as effective as hemodialysis and often provides a better quality of life for patients. Despite this, the replacement therapy remains little established in our country with a prevalence of less than 1% of patients with end-stage renal disease. The objective of this work is to report the development and complications of PD in our center.
 Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study including all patients on PD between October 2008 and March 2019. We noted their demographic and clinical data at their initiation in peritoneal dialysis and we followed their evolution to discuss infectious and mechanical complications as well as the causes of PD exit.
 Results: During the study period, 456 patients were admitted for end-stage renal disease. Among these patients, only 28 (6.1%) were put on PD including two diabetics. Their average age was 37.7 years with a sex ratio of 0.8. The average body surface area was 1.59 m² with an average residual renal function of 6.05 ml / min. PD was chosen as the first intention in 20 patients while 8 patients were on hemodialysis. The evolution was marked by a median survival of the technique of 18.5 months characterized by 8 episodes of peritonitis in 4 patients corresponding to a rate of 1 episode over 56 months. Regarding mechanical complications, we noted 9 omentum aspirations, 1 leak in one case and 1 umbilical hernia requiring surgical recovery in a patient. Out of 28 patients, 17 discharges were identified; 10 patients (67%) were transferred to hemodialysis, 4 died and only 3 patients (18%) were transplanted. The final transfer to hemodialysis was related to mechanical complications in 5 cases, loss of ultrafiltration in one case, repeated hydro-sodium overload in one case, peritonitis in one case and social reasons in two cases.
 Conclusion: PD is an effective technique which preserves residual renal function and quality of life but its prevalence remains low in the order of 6% of patients treated for end-stage renal disease. The complications are dominated in our context by the mechanical complications main cause of final transfer in hemodialysis.