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.