My father had polycystic kidneys that became severely infected and were removed middle of September. He had very low blood pressure,septecemia etc before surgery - very ill. He bounced back very quickly after surgery and during this time he was on hemo dialysis at the hospital. He has been on PD again at home, for the last two weeks. He is now back in hopsital with peritnitis,low blood pressure,dizzines and now a small amount of blood has appeared in one of the bags. We are getting conflicting reports from the hospital and are very worried. Does anyone think that there may be some connection to the PD that is making him ill?(as I say he was great on hemo!) To me there is too much co-incidence??
PLEASE HELP.Thanks
I was on PD for 4 years and just had a severe case of Peritonitis this summer that the nurses and nephrologists said wasn’t my fault. That is the problem with PD is you can get Peritonitis. But I thought you would only get it if you didn’t do everything perfect. They said sometimes it just happens. I don’t know. But it sounds like your dad may be better off on Hemo? You should have him talk to his doctor about his and your concerns.
The peritonitis is a complication of peritoneal dialysis. The two most likely causes are from contamination around the outside of the catheter (an exit site or tunnel infection, or a new catheter which has not yet “sealed” at the cuffs), or it could be from contamination of the catheter during exchanges where the germs would go through the inside of the catheter.
Sometimes the type of organism causing the infection gives a clue as to how the contamination ocurred.
The blood in the bag could be from the peritonitis. It’s not likely that the blood is from his polycystic kidneys as they are outside of the peritoneal cavity.
I would recommend that you talk with both the doctor and PD nurse and get as much information as you can about the infection and his current condition. Then talk to your Father about which therapy he prefers and why. Then you’ll be a lot closer to helping him make an informed choice about whether to continue on PD or switch back to HD.