Treatment data during pediatric home peritoneal teledialysis.

Peritoneal teledialysis (telePD) is a modem-based communication link between the patients' cyclers and a computer in the dialysis unit that allows the transmission and storage of a series of automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) treatment data. In order to evaluate the usefulness of telePD in quantifying the problems that may occur during pediatric APD, we retrospectively studied four patients with a median age of 14.1+/-1.8 years during their initial months of telePD. The selection criteria were potential non-compliance in two cases (patients 1 and 2) and catheter malposition or fibrin occlusion in two (patients 3 and 4). The patients were treated using a Fresenius PD Night Cycler with teledialysis software. Thirty consecutive treatments per patient in the 1st and 4th months were examined, and a series of treatment parameters was calculated. The percentage of treatments with alarms and the number of alarms per treatment were high in both the 1st and the 4th month, particularly in patients 3 and 4. The main causes of the alarms were tube kinking, catheter malfunction, fibrin occlusion, and failure of electrical power. The number of shortened treatments significantly decreased in the 4th month of telePD. One non-compliant family was identified during the 1st month of PD, but psychosocial support helped to decrease the number of shortened treatments due to non-compliance in the 4th month. During the 4th month of telePD, the dwell time/total treatment time ratio (which represents the time of contact between the peritoneum and dialysis fluid) increased as a result of technical interventions aimed at reducing the infusion plus drain time. In conclusion, telePD proved to be useful in detecting and solving the clinical and technical problems of APD.

A case study: telemedicine technology and peritoneal dialysis in children.

We investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a telemedicine system for monitoring pediatric patients undergoing automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) at home. The system uses modem-based communication between the patient's cycler and a computer in the dialysis unit, which allows data transmission and storage, and live patient-physician interaction by ISDN lines, modem, microphone with stereo speakers, and digital cameras for private video-conferencing and image capture. Two children aged 10 and 12 years, who live 1500 and 40 km from the dialysis unit, respectively, have been using the system for 7 months. All of the APD treatment data were stored and examined; 122 televisits were performed. The APD data show that both patients have complied with their dialysis prescription. The telemedicine system broadens patient/physician interchange and increases the quality of care and the life of children on peritoneal dialysis.