Peritoneal equilibration test (PET) is an important tool for managing peritoneal dialysis (PD) prescription. The Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines suggest that the first PET be performed 4-8 weeks after PD commencement. The main reason for this delay is because of the peritoneal membrane might change its character once it is exposed to the glucose based dialysate. In this study, we compared PET 2 weeks after PD commencement to PET after 6 months to evaluate the changes in the peritoneal membrane character with time. This study included 126 patients who underwent PD initiation between March 2007 and December 2011. The PET was performed as per the standard protocol at 2nd week and 6th month after PD initiation. Transport status was categorized as low, low average, high average, and high as per the standard definition. There was no change in transport character in 115 patients (91.2%) between the two PET measurements. When the Early PET at 2nd week and 6th month PET data were analyzed, no significant changes were observed in measured D/P creatinine (0.59 ± 0.14 vs. 0.62 ± 0.14 respectively P = 0.26) and D/D0 Glucose (0.46 ± 0.12 vs. 0.46 ± 0.11, P = 0.65). Using the Bland-Altman analysis the repeatability coefficients were 0.27 and 0.25 for creatinine and glucose values respectively. In our study, the PET performed at the 2nd week are similar to that of the 6th month PET in 91.2% of our patients and the test did not significantly change with time. In conclusion, we could do PET early at 2nd week to assess the peritoneal membrane character and this would help in proper dialysis prescription to the patients.

This study aimed at retrospectively evaluating the care giver profile in our PD patient and analyzing the occurrence ofperitonitis in relation to the relationship of the care giver to the patient and their educational profile. This is a retrospective study. The study duration was from April 1999 to March 2013. The relationship of the care giver to the patients, the educational status of the care givers were related to the occurrence of peritonitis in the patients. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17 software and a p value of< 0.05 was considered significant. Total number of patients initiated on PD during this study period was 235. There were 180 men and 55 women. The basic renal disease was Diabetic nephropathy in 140 and non diabetic renal disease in 95. Wife was the care giver in 142 (60.42 %), followed by husband 26 (11 %), son 21 (8.9%), daughter 15 (6.38%), home nurse 10(4.2%) and others in21(8.9%) including daughter in law 7(3%), mother 4(1.7%), sister 3 (1.3%), brother I (0.4%), self2 (0.8%) and other relatives 4 (1.6%). Fifty seven patients had peritonitis and 85 did not with 'wife' as the care provider and among the other care providers 28 had peritonitis and 65 did not and this is not statistically significant (p=0.506 NS). 137 care givers (58.2%) had college level education and 98 (41.2%) were educated up to school level. One hundred fifty (63.8%)patients had no peritonitis during follow up-86 caregivers were college educated and 64 had school level education. Eighty five patients (36.2%) had one or more episodes of peritonitis-51 were college educated and 34 had education up to schoollevel.(p=0.118 NS). In our study wife was the principle care provider and there was no significant difference in the peritonitis between 'wife' and the rest. Also the educational status of the care giver does not influence the peritonitis occurrence.