Comparison of icodextrin and glucose solutions for long-dwell exchange in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients; a preliminary study

Introduction: Icodextrin is widely used in peritoneal dialysis (PD) and several clinical observations suggest the superiority of icodextrin compared with 4.25% dextrose in optimizing peritoneal ultrafiltration (UF). However this solution has been introduced to our PD centers over the last two years. Objectives: In this study we aimed to evaluate the effects of employment of this solution in our PD patients. Patients and Methods: The study was carried out in two Iranian PD centers (Shafa and Shariati centers). We included 29 established patients (12 male and 17 female, mean age 58.9 ±11.1 years) who used icodextrin for the long-dwell exchange for last 6 months. Clinical data were collected at baseline and 6 months after icodextrin administration. Results: When the data between baseline and after 6 months of icodextrin administration was evaluated, we found no significant change in evaluated parameters including 24 hours UF, 24 hours urine volume, membrane transport type, Kt/V and creatinine clearance was observed. Conclusion: Icodextrin for the long-dwell exchange did not improve the creatinine clearance despite producing, a non-significant increase in 24-hour UF, after 6 months. Due to low proportion of patients and high inter-patients variability we cannot reach a robust conclusion. Studies with bigger sample size involving several PD centers are necessary to further address this subject.