This book covers some special issues relevant to peritoneal dialysis and is a guide to the clinical practice of peritoneal dialysis. A team of international experts presents the latest information about novel peritoneal solutions, pharmacological preservation of peritoneal membrane, peritoneal dialysis catheters, assessment of volume status in PD patients, management of exit-site infection, microbiology of PD peritonitis, peritoneal dialysis in acute renal failure, and peritoneal dialysis and pregnancy.

For more than a generation haemodialysis has been the principal method of treating patients with both acute and chronic renal failure. Initially, developments and improvements in the system were highly technical and relevant to only a relatively small number of specialists in nephrology. More recently, as advances in therapy have dem onstrated the value of haemofiltration in the intensive therapy unit and haemoperfusion for certain types of poisoning, the basic principles of haemodialysis have been perceived as important in many areas of clinical practice. In this volume, the potential advantages of bicarbonate haemo dialysis are objectively assessed, the technical and clinical aspects of both haemofiltration and haemoperfusion discussed and the con tinuing problems associated with such extra corporeal circuits analysed. All the chapters have been written by recognized experts in their field. The increasing availability of highly technical facilities for appropriately selected patients should ensure that the information contained in the book is relevant not only to nephrologists but to all practising clinicians. ABOUT THE EDITOR Dr Graeme R. D. Catto is Professor in Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen and Honorary Consultant Phy sician/Nephrologist to the Grampian Health Board. His current inter est in transplant immunology was stimulated as a Harkness Fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Peter Bent Brighton Hospital, Boston, USA. He is a member of many medical societies including the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland, the Renal Association and the Transplantation Society.

Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy provides concise, evidence-based, bedside guidance for the management of critically ill patients with acute renal failure, offering quick reference answers to clinicians' questions about treatments and situations encountered in daily practice.

While continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) has been the standard peritoneal procedure since the seventies, different schedules of automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) have emerged during the eighties. Today, APD is considered a valuable tool in the management of ESRD patients, together with CAPD and hemodialysis. However, despite its frequent use, APD has not yet been well assessed, and most pathophysiological and clinical studies on PD refer to CAPD. In this book, major experts in the field therefore discuss and evaluate the insights gained on APD up to now, presenting a comprehensive review of all experimental, technical and clinical aspects related to the various treatments grouped under the definition of APD. The recent developments presented are divided into four sections: membrane permeability, transport mechanisms and kinetic modeling applied to APD; prescription and adequacy of different APD treatment schedules; dialysis machines and solutions for APD, and, lastly, different clinical aspects such as the possibility to maintain APD program and residual renal function. Physicians involved in ESRD care, renal fellows and scientists both in the academic world and in the hospital setting will undoubtedly profit from this timely publication.

Nolph and Gokal's Text Book of Peritoneal Dialysis, Third Edition, covers advances made in the field for the past 30 years. During the past two decades, the time during which this therapy has been increasingly utilized, this text has continued to be recognized as the major source of the discipline's base knowledge. The evolution of this text to its newest edition parallels the growth of peritoneal dialysis from Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis in the eighties to the current therapy that encompasses manual and automated therapies with full emphasis on adequacy of dialysis dose. Peritoneal dialysis represents an intracorporeal technique for blood purification. This unique dialysis system represents one of many human attempts to manipulate nature for sustenance of life. The past few years of advances have focused on further improvement of the technique. Areas that have fueled the interest of researchers include: (1) Physiology of high transporters (and the role of genetics and inflammation); (2) Continued debate over the most appropriate adequacy indices (small solute clearances, large solute clearances, clinical assessment etc.); (3) Understanding, preventing and treating the MIA syndrome in PD patients ( including the roles of leptin, and adiponectin); (4) Pathogenesis and newer management strategies of vascular calcification; (5) Continued improvements in infectious complications including peritonitis; (6) Further improvements in catheter technology; (7) Automated techniques; (8) Explaining and correcting PD underutilization; (9) Rationale and applications of newer dialysis solutions; (10) New understanding and approaches to management of osteodystrophy; (11) Refinements in anemia management including new insights in iron metabolism in PD patients; (12) Further definition of indications for PD; (13) The ideal time to initiate dialysis. Newer insight into host defense mechanisms have also made the past decade of advances in the field more meaningful for clinicians. This text also covers the knowledge gained from animal models of peritoneal dialysis. Nolph and Gokal's Textbook of Peritoneal Dialysis, Third Edition is a compilation of the latest knowledge in the field. It cites and describes in great detail, the new discoveries and the evolution of understanding the subject of these discoveries.

The here presented book covers different areas of clinical and scientific interest, reaching from donor evaluation to newest methods in immunological diagnostics. But also aspects of daily care of transplant recipients can be found in the carefully selected chapters. Everything driven by the aim to improve the care for all of our transplanted patients.

This handbook covers all aspects of dialysis treatment and the care of patients with renal failure in a clear, compact but detailed format.