BACKGROUND Ambulatory oxygen is frequently prescribed for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have oxygen desaturation </=88% during exercise. The 6-min walk test (6MWT) with continuous pulse oximetry monitoring is a common method to document this oxygen desaturation, but the reproducibility of this test in determining the need for ambulatory oxygen in patients with C...

The increased availability of sophisticated automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) machines has made the choice of APD much more attractive to many patients and nephrologists. However, the cost of APD consumables still generally makes this option more expensive than many existing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) systems. Reusing the tubing and cassette for APD machines (APD with re...

AIM The percentage of people in Australia who undertake home dialysis has steadily decreased over the past 40 years and varies within Australia. Consumer factors related to this decline have not previously been determined. METHODS A 78-question survey was developed and piloted in 2008 and 2009. Survey forms were distributed to all adult routine dialysis patients in all Australian states and t...

Five cases of peritonitis occurred during continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in which unusual yellow pigmented Gram negative bacteria were isolated in pure culture. Four of these isolates were identified as the so called "Agrobacterium yellow group." The remaining isolate was identified as Pseudomonas paucimobilis, an organism closely related to the Agrobacterium yellow group.

We describe a case of peritonitis due to Vibrio fluvialis in a patient receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis; we believe the case to be associated with the consumption of poorly prepared seafood. This was shown to be an important but rare cause of recurrent infection in our patient.

Brevibacterium otitidis is a coryneform rod and, as far as is known, is isolated only from infected ears. We report the first known case of peritonitis caused by B. otitidis in a patient undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Use of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is increasing, and it is being promoted as a less expensive alternative to center hemodialysis (CHD). The debate over the relative charges for CAPD and CHD cannot generally be answered without considering the relationship between modality selection and patient characteristics. When selection and patient characteristics are accounted for, t...

A prospective study was performed to evaluate four culture methods for the diagnosis of bacterial peritonitis in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Peritonitis was present in 44 of 85 patient admissions (52%). The overall sensitivity of the culture methods in detecting peritonitis was 66%. The sensitivities of the individual methods were as follows: bag culture method, 61%; ...