Need for evidence on long-term prognosis of PD+HD: a commentary

Combination therapy with peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis (PD+HD) is an alternative dialysis method for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The complementary use of once-weekly HD expedites to achieve adequate dialysis and enables to prolong PD duration. Although PD+HD has been widely employed among Japanese PD patients, it is much less common outside Japan. Clinical evidences are still not enough, especially in long-term prognosis and appropriate treatment duration, suitable patients, and generalizability. A retrospective cohort study by Chung et al. (BMC Nephrol 21:348, 2020) compared the risk of mortality and hospitalization between PD patients who were transferred to PD+HD and those who were transferred to HD in Taiwan. Because the mortality and hospitalization rates did not differ between the groups, the authors concluded that, PD+HD may be a rational and cost-effective treatment option. It should be noted that the effects of PD+HD on long-term prognosis are still unknown due to too-short PD+HD duration. However, the study identified the high-risk patient population and showed the generalizability of PD+HD. PD+HD is a treatment of choice in patients with ESKD who prefer PD lifestyles even after decline in residual kidney function.