Abstract
IntroductionPeritonitis is the most frequent complication of peritoneal dialysis. Diagnosis of peritonitis includes symptoms and signs of peritonitis with a cloudy aspirate of more than 100 WBC/ml, as well as positive cultures. Although sterile peritonitis has been reported in the literature, to the best of our knowledge this is the first report of an unusual presentation of peritonitis without any white blood cells in the peritoneal aspirate despite multiple positive peritoneal cultures.Case presentationAn 82-year-old Caucasian man who had been on continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis for 12 years was admitted to our hospital with general malaise, loss of appetite, weight loss and somnolence. He did not describe abdominal pain or fever. Even though his peritoneal fluid was consistently negative for leukocytes and clear, he had peritonitis with different organisms consecutively.ConclusionsOur case report shows that any patient on peritoneal dialysis presenting with evidence of infection (fever, peripheral leukocytosis) without an obvious cause should have aspirate cultures done even if the aspirate is clear and abdominal pain is absent. Our case report may change the initial work-up and management of these patients. We believe this report is of interest to general medicine and emergency room physicians as well as nephrologists.
Highlights
Peritonitis is the most frequent complication of peritoneal dialysis
Our case report shows that any patient on peritoneal dialysis presenting with evidence of infection without an obvious cause should have aspirate cultures done even if the aspirate is clear and abdominal pain is absent
Sterile peritonitis has been reported in the literature [1], to the best of our knowledge this is the first report of an unusual presentation of peritonitis without any white blood cells in the peritoneal aspirate despite multiple positive peritoneal cultures
Summary
Patients on PD presenting with evidence of infection (fever, peripheral leukocytosis) without an obvious cause should have aspirate cultures done even if the aspirate is clear and abdominal pain is absent. Consent Written informed consent was obtained from the patient’s of kin for publication of this case report and any accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal. Author details 1Department of Nephrology, Marmara University School of Medicine, (Tophanelioglu Cad.), İstanbul, (34660), Turkey. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. De Freitas DG, Gokal R: Sterile peritonitis in the peritoneal dialysis patient. 4. Taylor G, McKenzie M, Buchanan-Chell M, Perry D, Chui L, Dasgupta M: Peritonitis due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in patients undergoing chronic peritoneal dialysis. 5. Huen SC, Hall I, Topal J, Mahnensmith RL, Brewster UC, Abu-Alfa AK: Successful use of intraperitoneal daptomycin in the treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus peritonitis.
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