The Measurement of Insulin Resistance in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

The goal of this study is to examine the relevance of insulin resistance in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients as well as the means to improve this metabolic derangement. We will do so through a prospective randomized study using Icodextrin as an alternate dialysate solution to routine glucose-based dialysate. We hypothesize that (1) the glucose loading associated with PD leads to impairment in insulin sensitivity, (2) the degree of insulin resistance is dependent on the basal metabolic state (fasting versus stimulated), and (3) the replacement of conventional dialysate with glucose-sparing dialysate preparations will improve insulin resistance and associated metabolic disturbances in PD patients.