Peritoneal dialysis infections: an opportunity for improvement.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter-associated infections remain a challenging cause of technique failure. Patient training and preventive measures are key elements in the management of infection rates. Twenty-seven of the 167 PD catheter transfer sets analyzed (19%) yielded a positive microbial culture (58% gram-negative bacteria). These results show that subclinical contamination, particularly from environmental gram-negative bacteria, is a potential hazard, indicating the need for a protocol for regular transfer set changes.