Diagnosis of dialysis leak in children on peritoneal dialysis using radionuclide technique.

Dialysis leak from the peritoneal cavity into various tissue planes, most often into subcutaneous tissue around a previous surgical incision or trough umbilical hernia is known complication of continuous ampulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). This complication leads to bed ultrafiltration and compromise the peritoneal dialysis. Usually computed tomogtaphy (CT) makes the diagnosis of dialysate leakage. However there are other techniques that have been shown useful in particulars occasions. Peritoneoscintigraphy is an underestimated noninvasive technique for diagnosis of dialysate leakage. We refer a 9-year-old girl who was on CAPD for 2 years and presented with genitals oedema and failure of ultrafiltration. Using peritoneoscintigraphy we diagnosed leakage of dialysate in subcutaneous tissue through umbilical hernia. CT has proved this finding. We conclude that the peritoneoscintigraphy is an instrumental technique to identify the causes of genital edema in patients on peritoneal dialysis.