Peritonitis in renal failure patients treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Treatment by intraperitoneal administration of a group M penicillin

: From February 1980 to February 1983, 55 patients with chronic renal failure were put on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Eighty-four episodes of peritonitis occurred., i.e one episode every 9.9 months of treatment. Since staphylococci accounted for 58% of the germs identified, intraperitoneal therapy with a penicillin M was instituted while dialysis was continued through chambers. Cure was obtained in 85.7% of all episodes, either with the penicillin M alone (57% of the cases) or after adjustment of the antibiotic therapy to bacteriological results (28.6% of the cases). Dialysis was discontinued in 10 patients (18%) on account of the peritonitis. The duration of hospital stay for peritonitis was 3.6 days per patient per year. These results were compared with those obtained by other groups. The advantages of penicillin M are its ease of administration, its narrow spectrum and high activity against the pathogens most commonly encountered, and its very low toxicity.