[9-year experience with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in one center]

The experience gained with CAPD in a group of 101 patients with terminal renal failure and a subgroup of 19 patients with diabetes mellitus was analysed. The actuarial patient survival was 81% after two years and 50% after five years. The combined patient-technique survival after two years was 48.8%. The most important reasons for drop-out were transplantation (25%) and death (24%). Death was method-related in 4 patients and caused by peritonitis in 2 of them. More often peritonitis was the cause of morbidity and temporary interruption (10 x) or of permanent abandoning of the method (11 x ). The peritonitis frequency during the whole period of nine years was 1 : 11.3 months. Use of the Y-connector Twinbag system and a U.V.-light system reduced the incidence substantially. However, faecal peritonitis remains a dangerous situation which cannot be prevented in this way. The mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus is high but not method-related. The incidence of peritonitis is not significantly different from that among patients without diabetes mellitus.