Urgent vs. early-start peritoneal dialysis: patients' profile and outcomes

INTRODUCTION: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been considered a safe option of therapy in end-stage renal disease patients with urgent need of dialysis. Recently, it was proposed that Urgent-Start-PD (US-PD) be defined when PD starts within 72 hours after catheter placement and “early start” PD (ES-PD) when PD starts between 3 and 14 days after. We aimed to compare demographic and clinical characteristics between patients in US-PD and ES-PD as well as 30-day complications, 6-month hospitalization, and dropout rate. METHODS: Adult patients starting PD within 14 days after catheter insertion (October/2016 - February/2019) were included and divided into US-PD group and ES-PD group based on the their PD initiation time. Clinical and demographic data, fill volume for the first PD session, 30-day complications, 6-month hospitalization, and dropout rate were assessed. RESULTS: In our study, 72 patients were analyzed (US-PD=40, ES-PD=32) with mean age of 53.2±15.2 years old. No differences between US-PD and ES-PD regarding demographic characteristics, 30-day complications, 6-month hospitalization, and dropout events were found. The most frequent short-term complication in patients who started PD urgently was leakage. The most common cause of dropout was transfer to HD. CONCLUSION: Fifty five percent of our sample started PD less than 72 hours after catheter insertion. The lack of difference in the measured outcomes compared to patients that had therapy initiated after this period encourages the use of urgent PD when needed.