1 Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington
A 15
-year-old girl with chronic glomerulonephritis (creatinine clearance less than 1 ml/min has been treated with periodic hemodialysis for 18 months. The technique as applied to adults has proved to be technically feasible, although cannula maintenance is more difficult. The primary goal of the project, complete reversal of the patient's arrested growth and development, has to date not been realized, although suboptimal increase in growth rate has occurred. Long-range effects on psychosocial development are not yet known. Further modifications of the treatment in an attempt to achieve the foregoing goal are planned, but at this time this method of treatment of chronic renal disease in preadolescents cannot be considered ready for general application.