Transection versus infection: acute appendicitis in a peritoneal dialysis patient presenting as catheter dysfunction and discontinuity on X-ray.

Acute appendicitis in peritoneal dialysis patients generally presents as abdominal pain and cloudy dialysate. We report a case of acute appendicitis in a peritoneal dialysis patient that presented as poor dialysate fluid drainage and an abnormal abdominal X-ray showing breakage in the continuity of the catheter. Catheter dysfunction in this case was caused by acute appendicitis leading to the formation of adhesions with peritoneal dialysis catheter trapped in it. This resulted in radiological appearance of catheter breakage, although catheter itself was intact. Clinicians should be aware of this rare presentation of acute appendicitis-poor drain alarm and radiological appearance of catheter discontinuity. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.