Previous studies have shown the incidence of
peritonitis to be generally lower for patients performing continuous cycling
peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) than patients maintained on
continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (
CAPD). Recent changes in
CAPD techniques, particularly the introduction of the UltraBag system, have resulted in a marked decrease in
peritonitis rates in
CAPD patients. The purpose of the present study was to compare
peritoneal dialysis-related
infections in 73 patients treated with CCPD and 57 patients treated with
CAPD using the UltraBag system for a 12-month period. Demographic data of the two groups were comparable.
Peritonitis rates were significantly lower in the patients treated with
CAPD on the UltraBag (one
infection/23 patient-months) than in patients treated with CCPD (one
infection/14.4 patient-months, p < 0.05). Exit-site
infections were also significantly lower in patients treated with
CAPD (one episode/35 patient-months) compared to patients treated with CCPD (one episode/11.5 patient-months, p < 0.05). The spectrum of organisms causing
infection was similar in both groups of patients. The study suggests that
peritonitis and exit-site
infections are significantly less common in patients treated with
CAPD with the UltraBag system than in patients treated with CCPD.