PICTORIAL REVIEW Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis—a guide to imaging appearances and complications

Objectives The aim of this article is to review and illustrate the typical imaging findings for a patient on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and its complica-tions, examining the uses and limitations of multimodality imaging. Background CAPD is a commonly and increasingly used method of renal replacement therapy in end-stage renal failure (ESRF). From the set-up and insertion of the perito-neal catheter through to the actual treatment, there are pit-falls and complications that may adversely affect the patient and compromise the success of the dialysis. Complications can be either immediate or delayed, and can also be cate-gorised into infectious and non-infectious aetiologies, in-cluding catheter failure, dialysate leaks, hernias and encapsulating sclerosing peritonitis. Conclusion Early recognition of complications, both clini-cally and on the different imaging modalities, is essential in the management of CAPD in order to reduce treatment failure and limit patient morbidity and mortality. Main messages & Complications of peritoneal dialysis cause patient mor-bidity and treatment failure. & Early recognition of complications from normal appear-ances is essential to limit dialysis failure. & Multimodality imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of these complications