Experience of 100 surgical cases of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis: investigation of recurrent cases after surgery.

Since 1993, we have performed enterolysis for encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) in 86 patients. Five patients died after surgery, but the remaining 81 patients achieved symptomatic improvement. However, some of the surviving patients developed symptoms of intestinal obstruction after several months, and EPS recurrence remains our greatest challenge. In the present study, we identified factors related to recurrence by clinically comparing 47 recurrent and nonrecurrent patients that we were able to follow for more than 2 years after surgery. In the 47 patients we followed, 11 (23.4%) experienced recurrence, and 10 of those patients underwent a second surgery. Four patients needed a third surgery. The mean time to recurrence was 15.2 months, and all patients with recurrence, except one, experienced their recurrence within 20 months. We observed no differences between the recurrent and nonrecurrent patients in follow-up period, age, history of peritoneal dialysis, use or nonuse of steroids after surgery, thickness of the submesothelial compact zone, or inflammatory cell infiltration. However, the number of microvessels was significantly higher in the recurrent patients. Our surgical experience with EPS shows recurrence in approximately 23% of patients. The results of the present study suggest that peritoneal microvascular hyperplasia is a factor involved in recurrence, and that patients with recurrence may have an irreversible pathologic condition and may experience repeated recurrences.