Peritoneal Dialysis During Infancy

In the early years of renal replacement therapy, there has been doubt if it would be ethically justified to treat end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in newborns and infants with maintenance peritoneal dialysis due to their higher technical complication rates, morbidity, and mortality in comparison to older children [1, 2]. At the end of the 1990s, only 50% of pediatric nephrologists offered dialysis to patients under 1 year of age, and only 40% offered this treatment to neonates [3]. However, during recent years, an increasing number of publications have reported satisfactory outcomes with respect to morbidity, mortality, growth, and development [4–11]. Thus, in experienced centers, results comparable to those achieved in older children can be achieved and most countries with available resources offer treatment to the majority of infants.