A CASE OF A DIALYSIS PATIENT WITH SCLEROSING PERITONITIS SUCCESSFULLYTREATED WITH CORTICOSTEROID-THERAPY ALONE

Sclerosing peritonitis (SCP) is a rare complication of peritoneal dial ysis. Most of the patients with this serious complication have been tr eated in a symptomatic and conservative manner. Other patients have un dergone risky surgical interventions, Recently it was reported that im munosuppressive therapy after renal transplantation was effective for this complication, A 56-year-old man developed sclerosing peritonitis 5 months after switching from peritoneal dialysis to hemodialysis beca use of ultrafiltration failure. The patient had ongoing inflammatory s igns and symptoms, and corticosteroid therapy was commenced, His condi tion was dramatically improved within 1 week, and he is now well on an outpatient basis with the maintenance dosage of corticosteroid, This is the first report of a patient with peritoneal dialysis-related SCP who responded favorably to corticosteroid therapy alone. (C) 1997 by t he National Kidney Foundation, Inc.