Introduction: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a preferred method of renal replacement
therapy for end-stage renal disease in children. Recent advances have allowed
chronic PD to be provided to children of all ages and sizes.
Material and methods: The study was designed as a national (10 dialysis centres),
multicentre retrospective analysis of the medical history of 33 children who
started chronic peritoneal dialysis in their infancy between 1993 and 2005, with
a follow-up period of at least 24 months.
Results: The nutritional status of the infants was unsatisfactory. The mean SDS
of body weight at the start was -2.0, at 1 year of age -1.7. Only 40% of infants
were adequately nourished at 1 year of age. Long-term follow-up analysis showed
that 12 children received a kidney transplant, 13 were still on dialysis (4 changed
method) and 6 died (mortality rate in the first year of life of 9%). In 2 children
we observed an improvement of renal function. We observed a relatively high
(1/8.8 patient-months) peritonitis rate in the analysed children when compared
to 1 : 22 patient-months in all children undergoing PD in Poland.
Conclusions: The results of our survey have shown that the management of
dialysed infants is still a challenge for the medical team and families, but longterm results of the therapy are encouragin