Case Scenario 1 Part B

Further assessment of the patient reveals the following: she has had vague and diffuse abdominal pain for about 3 days. She has not vomited or felt nauseous. There are no bowel or urinary symptoms. She describes no systemic upset. She has a temperature of 37.4. All other observations are within normal limits. Her abdomen is soft although slightly tender all over. She also describes a change in the appearance of her dialysate fluid such that it appears more cloudy than usual. She is very knowledgeable regarding her illness and suspects she may have PD peritonitis.

Abdominal pain is the most common presentation of PD peritonitis and is present in about 95% of confirmed cases.¹ This still means however that 1 in 20 patients with proven PD peritonitis will NOT have abdominal pain