Weekly clearances of urea and creatinine on CAPD and NIPD

Weekly creatinine clearance (Ccr) and weekly Curea/v (kt/v) are popular indices for quantitating the amount of peritoneal dialysis provided. Studies were undertaken on 44 patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and 10 patients on nightly intermittent peritoneal dialysis (NIPD) to compare relationships of weekly creatinine clearance to weekly urea clearance (Curea) divided by total body water (v). With a long cycle therapy such as CAPD, the ratio of weekly Ccr to weekly kt/v is higher than with a short cycle technique, such as NIPD, in the same patient. If patients are shifted from CAPD to NIPD maintaining the same weekly kt/v, the weekly Ccr will decrease. If patients are shifted from CAPD to NIPD maintaining the same weekly Ccr, then the weekly kt/v will increase. The clinical implications of these observations are unknown, but should be kept in mind for future studies comparing CAPD and NIPD.