Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 15;11(6):1624.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11061624.

Does Far-Infrared Therapy Improve Peritoneal Function and Reduce Recurrent Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients?

Yuanmay Chang  1 , Jui-Ting Chang  2 , Mei-Yi Lee  3 , Mei-Zen Huang  4 , Yann-Fen C C Chao  5 , Yung-Luen Shih  6 , Yao-Rong Hwang  1
Affiliations

Does Far-Infrared Therapy Improve Peritoneal Function and Reduce Recurrent Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients?

Yuanmay Chang et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

The use of peritoneal dialysis in end-stage renal disease is increasing in clinical practice. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of far-infrared radiation therapy on inflammation and the cellular immunity of patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. We recruited 56 patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, and we included 32 patients for the experimental group and 24 patients from the control group in the final analysis. The experimental evaluation in our study was as follows: (1) We used abdominal computed tomography to explore the changes in abdominal blood vessels. (2) We compared the effects of peritoneal dialysis using blood glucose, HbAlC, albumin, urea nitrogen, creatinine, white blood cells, hs-CRP; peritoneal Kt/V of peritoneal function, and eGFR. (3) We compared the cytokines’ concentrations in the two groups while controlling for the other cytokines. Results and Discussion: (1) There was no significant difference in the abdominal blood vessels of the experimental group relative to the control group according to abdominal CT over the 6 months. (2) Our study demonstrates statistically significant effects of FIR therapy on the following parameters: creatinine (p = 0.039 *) and hs-CRP (p < 0.001 **) levels decreased significantly, and eGFR (p = 0.043 *), glucose (p < 0.001 **), and albumin (p = 0.048 *) levels increased significantly. Our study found that in the experimental group, creatinine and hs-CRP levels decreased significantly due to FIR therapy for 6 months. However, our study also found that the glucose level was significantly different after FIR therapy for 6 months. Peritoneal dialysis combined with FIR can reduce the side effects of the glucose in the dialysis buffer, which interferes with peritoneal inflammation and peritoneal mesothelial cell fibrosis. (3) In addition, we also found that no statistically significant difference in any inflammatory cytokine after FIR therapy. IFN-γ (p = 0.124), IL-12p70 (p = 0.093), IL-18 (p = 0.213), and TNF-α (p = 0.254) did not exhibit significant improvements after peritoneal dialysis with FIR treatment over 6 months. Conclusions: We found that the effectiveness of peritoneal dialysis was improved significantly with FIR therapy, and significant improvements in the peritoneal permeability and inflammatory response were observed.

Keywords: end-stage renal disease; far-infrared therapy (FIR); peritoneal dialysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of participants comparing the effect of patients undergoing FIR treatment and non-FIR treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) FIR therapy set-up during a PD exchange. Abbreviations: FIR: far-infrared; PD: peritoneal dialysis [11]; (b) a photo of the FIR therapy at night.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of clinical biochemical parameters of the experimental group (FIR) and control group (non-FIR). (A) IL-6, (B) IL-1β, (C) IL-4, (D) IFN-γ, (E) IL-12p70, (F) IL-18, (G) TNF-α.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of clinical biochemical parameters of the experimental group (FIR) and control group (non-FIR). (A) IL-6, (B) IL-1β, (C) IL-4, (D) IFN-γ, (E) IL-12p70, (F) IL-18, (G) TNF-α.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Jamie P.D., Julia B.L. Clinical aspects of diabetic nephropathy. In: Robert W.S., Eric G.N., editors. Schrier’s Diseases of the Kidney. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Philadelphia, PA, USA: 2012. p. 165975.
    1. Alicic R.Z., Rooney M.T., Tuttle K.R. Diabetic Kidney Disease: Challenges, Progress, and Possibilities. Clin. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 2017;12:2032–2045. doi: 10.2215/CJN.11491116. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Research Group. Nathan D.M., Genuth S., Lachin J., Cleary P., Crofford O., Davis M., Rand L., Siebert C. The Effect of Intensive Treatment of Diabetes on the Development and Progression of Long-Term Complications in Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus. N. Engl. J. Med. 1993;329:977–986. - PubMed
    1. Yang X., Yu X.Q. Approaches to the protection of peritoneum in patients on long-term peritoneal dialysis. Chin. J. Blood Purif. 2010;9:523–525.
    1. Muskiet M., Smits M., Morsink L.M., Diamant M. The gut–renal axis: Do incretin-based agents confer renoprotection in diabetes? Nat. Rev. Nephrol. 2013;10:88–103. doi: 10.1038/nrneph.2013.272. - DOI - PubMed