Peritoneal Dialysis: Where is it Now and Where is it Going?

[Cost of dialysis in France]

The provision of care for patients with end-stage chronic renal failure is an important medical and economic challenge for the Health Insurance. Previous studies have shown a lower cost for home dialysis. More recently, studies have confirmed identical short-term survival rates between haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Notwithstanding, home dialysis techniques utilization remains weak in France. This work aims at: determining the average annual cost of dialysis, per patient and per technique of dialysis, and assessing the global annual cost of dialysis in France, from the Health Insurance perspective. Methodologically, this article provides a static estimation of the cost of dialysis. Costs related to co-morbidities of end-stage chronic renal failure have not been considered. Standard patient care schemes have been outlined by a multidisciplinary expert committee, for each dialysis technique, and have been valorised using publicly available data and tariffs recorded in 2005. Our result show that home dialysis techniques are the less costly, with an average annual cost per patient of 49.9, 49.7 and 50.0 k euro respectively for home haemodialysis, automated peritoneal dialysis, and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Autodialysis, autonomous in-center haemodialysis and in-center haemodialysis respectively cost 59.5, 62.3 and 81.5 k euro per patient and per annum. The total 2005 cost of dialysis for the Health Insurance is estimated at 2.1 billion euro. Therefore, the development of alternative techniques to in-center haemodialysis, such as home dialysis or autonomous in-center haemodialysis, autodialysis being already well developed, could generate savings for the Health Insurance. From the patient's perspective, it could also allow the enlightened choice of the best customized technique, less guided by local offer than by medical or social criteria, as well as by the patient's own opinion.

Icodextrin Peritoneal Transport In Vitro: Effect of Sodium Deoxycholate, Glucose, and Methylglyoxal

The aim of the in vitro studies was to examine the effect of sodium deoxycholate, glucose, and methylglyoxal on icodextrin peritoneal transfer. The rabbit peritoneum in a modified Ussing chamber was an experimental model. Transport and morphometric analyses were performed. In the first of them, the icodextrin (7.5 g/dL) diffusion from the mesothelial to the interstitial side of the membrane, expressed as a diffusive permeability coefficient (P), was evaluated in the control stage, after chemical modification of the membrane using sodium deoxycholate (104 mg/dL), after the addition of glucose (1.8 g/dL) and methylglyoxal (1 mg/dL), in the separate experimental series. In the second morphometric studies, the thickness and transverse cross-section surface area of native tissue, in 75 min of experiment and after application of sodium deoxycholate, were investigated. In the control conditions, the rate of glucose polymer passage remained constant. A mean value of P +/- SD was 0.194 +/- 0.126 (x10(-4), cm/s) during 120 min of the study. The transfer of icodextrin was enhanced by 224% after 3 min of incubation of the peritoneum with sodium deoxycholate. The introduction of glucose into the circulating medium with icodextrin caused the increase of P values for glucose polymer by 94% during 60 min. In the same conditions, the usage of methylglyoxal did not change transport parameters. Both thickness and transverse cross-section surface area of the native tissue in 75 min of the study did not differ. It was 4.87 microm and 12.50 x 10(2) microm(2) for the mesothelial layer, and 63.83 microm and 208.10 x 10(2) microm(2) for the whole peritoneal membrane. The application of sodium deoxycholate caused the decrease of mesothelium thickness by 20% but the increase of thickness and transverse cross-section surface area of the peritoneum by 37% in comparison with 75 min of experiment. In conclusion, sodium deoxycholate and glucose, but not methylglyoxal, intensify peritoneal transport of icodextrin in vitro. These modifications are probably connected with the exfoliation of the mesothelium and looseness of the interstitium caused by sodium deoxycholate as well as the physical and metabolic influence of glucose on the peritoneum.

Governing therapy choices: power/knowledge in the treatment of progressive renal failure

This article outlines the struggle between the power of the health care professional and the rights of the individual to choose freely a modality of treatment. Nurses are instrumental in assisting patients in making the best decision for a therapy they will have to assume for the rest of their lives. In guiding patients' decision, nurses must take into account these unavoidable contingencies: changes in lifestyle, nutritional restrictions, level of acceptance, compliance issues, ease of training and availability of support/facilities. Ensuring that the patient makes an informed decision is therefore an ongoing challenge for nurses as they are taking part in a delicate balancing act between not directly influencing the patient's decision while making sure the patient is accurately informed.