THE RELATIVE ease of performing peritoneal dialysis in small patients has contributed to its widespread use, compared to hemodialysis, in pediatrics. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for predicting the efficacy of peritoneal dialysis in subjects of different body sizes.
When a uniform, high concentration of a no-threshold solute (such as inulin, mannitol, or urea) is established in the body fluids, the concentration will decrease exponentially until the loading solute is completely removed,1 or, as in the case of urea, until the excretory rate equals the production rate. Estimates of the renal clearance of inulin2 and mannitol3 have been made based on this principle. The renal clearance of such a solute is related to the volume of distribution by,
The symbols are defined as: At, the concentration of the particular solute at any time; Ao, the initial concentration of the solute; e,