Nystatin prophylaxis: its inability to prevent fungal peritonitis in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Objective: To evaluate the potential effectiveness of nystatin as prophylaxis for fungal peritonitis (FP) in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Design: This historically controlled study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of nystatin in the prevention of FP. For this purpose we compared the incidence of FP among 240 (new and prevalent) CAPD patients between January 1996 and November 1996 (period A) with its incidence in 240 new and prevalent CAPD patients in our program between January 1997 and November 1997 (period B) when nystatin prophylaxis was used. There were 2400 patient-months in each period. Nystatin (500,000 IU four times per day), was given orally at the beginning of other antibiotic therapy (usually for peritonitis) and continued for 5 days after the end of the antibiotic therapy.

Results: During period A, 133 peritonitis episodes were recorded, and during period B, 99 episodes were recorded. Six episodes of FP were identified in over 2400 patient-months of period A, and 12 in over 2400 patient-months of period B. This difference was not statistically significant. Three episodes of antibiotic-related FP were seen in period A, and four in period B. The remaining episodes arose de novo, that is, unrelated to the use of antibiotics. We observed no side effects for nystatin.

Conclusion: In CAPD patients the use of nystatin, a nonabsorbable antifungal agent, as prophylaxis in every instance of peritonitis or other indications for antibiotics, did not lower the incidence of fungal peritonitis.