Peritoneal dialysis in colistin intoxication: Report of a case

A patient with acute renal failure secondary to an overdose of colistin is presented. Peritoneal dialysis was used in an attempt to reduce the serum colistin level. Most previous reports have indicated that dialysis is not an effective way of removing colistin from the serum; there have been no published reports of the use of dialysis specifically for colistin intoxication. In our patient serum colistin was reduced from 16 to 4 μg per milliliter during the initial dialysis, with a further reduction to 2 μg per milliliter during a second dialysis. Renal function was markedly impaired until after the second dialysis, but thereafter gradually improved. Subsequent measurements of renal function have been normal.