ANALYSIS OF THE PREVALENCE AND CAUSES OF ULTRAFILTRATION FAILURE

¤ Background: Ultrafiltration failure (UFF) is a major com-plication of peritoneal dialysis (PD). It can occur at any stage of PD, but develops in time and is, therefore, espe-cially important in long-term treatment. To investigate its prevalence and to identify possible causes, we performed a multicenter study in The Netherlands, where patients treated with PD for more than 4 years were studied using a peritoneal function test (standard peritoneal permeability analysis) with 3.86 % glucose. UFF was defined as net UF < 400 mL after a 4-hour dwell. ¤ Results: 55 patients unselected for the presence or ab-sence of UFF were analyzed. Mean age was 48 years (range 18 – 74 years); duration of PD ranged from 48 to 144 months (median 61 months); UFF was present in 20 patients (36%). Patients with and without UFF did not differ in age or dura