In intermittent peritoneal dialysis the dialysate fluid passing from the peritoneal cavity is considered waste. By sending this fluid through an artificial kidney and returning it to the peritoneal cavity—thus forming a closed recirculation system—investigators at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC, report they have been able greatly to increase the efficiency of peritoneal dialysis.
"With this technique, we have achieved peritoneal clearances two to three times greater than those achieved with standard intermittent peritoneal dialysis," Leroy Shear, MD, reported.
The work of the Walter Reed group was among a number of recent innovations in chronic dialysis technique reported to the annual meeting in Atlantic City of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs.
Other developments reported to the meeting included the following: