Brief history of dialysis in the world and in Argentina. Part 3: The beginnings of peritoneal dialysis in the world

Abstract

Milestones throughout history marked the path to reach peritoneal dialysis (PD) as a treatment for advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Egyptian embalmers, Galen (2nd century) and Vesalius (16th century) provided knowledge about the anatomy of the peritoneum. It was not until 1628 that Asellius Gaselli described the abdominal lymphatic capillaries. The 19th century was rich in advances: the cell was identified as the unit of living beings and the phenomenon of osmosis (Dutrochet, 1828), crystalloids and colloids and their passage or not through a membrane (Graham T, 1850), the flow of solutes and particles through the peritoneal membrane (Recklinghausen, 1863), the absorption of hypotonic substances and the increase in effluent with hypertonic ones (Wegner G, 1877), and animal experiments confirmed that fluid removal and other substances occurred primarily through blood vessels (Starling & Tubby, 1894). But it was not until the 20th century that PD was applied as treatment. The first attempt to use the peritoneum to treat uremia was made by Georg Ganter in 1923, first in animals with ureteral ligation and then in two patients. It was not until 1937 that the first case that survived a peritoneal "lavage" was published (Wear et al), but it was Fine, Frank and Seligman who initially in nephrectomized dogs and later in patients with acute kidney injury (ARI) demonstrated that the method was not only viable, but also succesful. Then progress continued, especially for patients with ARI, but also in some cases with advanced CKD: the double hanging bottle (Maxwell M, 1959), chronic intrahospital dialysis with a cycler (Tenckoff et al, 1965), plastic bags for PD, until 1975 when Moncrief et al launched continuous ambulatory PD, and in 1981 automated PD was introduced. The 1990s saw the expansion of PD, to date installed as one of treatment alternatives for advanced CKD.