Between 1983 and 1988 57 peritonitis episodes in an unselected patient population were initially treated with intraperitoneal cefazolin and gentamicin. The loading dose consisted of 500 mg cefazolin/L dialysate and 40 mg gentamicin/L dialysate. The maintenance dosage was 125 mg cefazolin and 8 mg gentamicin per liter dialysate. Forty-five (78.9%) patients were primarily cured with this regimen (responder group = RG). Twelve patients (21.1%) did not respond to the initial therapy (nonresponder group = NG). Eight peritonitis episodes in the NG (14.0% of all patients) were caused by tunnel infections and 2 by diverticulitis (3.5%). The cure rate in patients without tunnel infection or bowel disease was 95.7%. A relapse occurred in 2 patients (3.5%). Duration of therapy was assessed by daily white blood cell count (WBC) in the effluent and treatment was discontinued when the WBC was less than 100/microliters for 3 days. The mean duration of therapy with cefazolin and gentamicin was 8.1 days in the RG and 6.0 days in the NG. Nonresponders were subsequently treated with a modified antibiotic regimen on an average 11.9 days.

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