Emergency laparotomy in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Peritonitis is the most common complication of chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). It is often a diagnostic challenge to differentiate those patients with CAPD-associated infections from those who have unrelated gastrointestinal pathology as the cause of peritonitis and would benefit from surgical exploration. A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients at a single institution who were on CAPD between the years 1990 and 1998 and who underwent laparotomy for peritonitis.

Rolaids-yogurt syndrome: a 1990s version of milk-alkali syndrome.

Milk-alkali syndrome is characterized by progressive hypercalcemia, systemic alkalosis, and renal insufficiency. After calcium carbonate is ingested with diary products, hypercalcemia and alkalosis may develop in susceptible persons, particularly those with underlying renal insufficiency. We describe a young woman who neither drank milk nor had peptic ulcer disease, yet who ingested enough calcium carbonate to require admission to an intensive care unit for acute renal failure.

Cellular basis for blunted volume expansion natriuresis in experimental nephrotic syndrome.

Experimental nephrotic syndrome results in sodium retention, reflecting, at least in part, an intrinsic defect in renal sodium handling in the distal nephron. We studied the relationships among plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) concentration, sodium excretion (UNaV), and urinary cyclic GMP excretion (UcGMPV) in vivo, and the responsiveness of isolated glomeruli and inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells to ANP in vitro, in rats with adriamycin nephrosis (6-7 mg/kg body weight, intravenously). 3-5 wk after injection, rats were proteinuric and had a blunted natriuretic response to intravenous infusion of isotonic saline, 2% body weight given over 5 min.