Evidence on Continuous Flow Peritoneal Dialysis: A Review

Clinical application of continuous flow peritoneal dialysis (CFPD) has been explored since the 1960s, but despite anticipated clinical benefits, CFPD has failed to gain a foothold in clinical practice, among others due to the typical use of two catheters (or a dual-lumen catheter) and large dialysate volumes required per treatment. Novel systems applying CFPD via the existing single-lumen catheter using rapid dialysate cycling may solve one of these hurdles. Novel on-demand peritoneal dialysate generation systems and sorbent-based peritoneal dialysate regeneration systems may considerably reduce the storage space for peritoneal dialysate and/or the required dialysate volume. This review provides an overview of current evidence on CFPD in vivo. The available (pre)clinical evidence on CFPD is limited to case reports/series with inherently nonuniform study procedures, or studies with a small sample size, short follow-up, and no hard endpoints. Small solute clearance appears to be higher in CFPD compared to conventional PD, in particular at dialysate flows ≥100 mL/min using two single-lumen catheters or a double-lumen catheter. Results of CFPD using rapid cycling via a single-lumen catheter are too preliminary to draw any conclusions. Continuous addition of glucose to dialysate with CFPD appears to be effective in reducing the maximum intraperitoneal glucose concentration while increasing ultrafiltration efficiency (mL/g absorbed glucose). Patient tolerance may be an issue since abdominal discomfort and sterile peritonitis were reported with continuous circulation of the peritoneal dialysate. Thus, well-designed clinical trials of longer duration and larger sample size, in particular applying CFPD via the existing catheter, are urgently required.