Why is there a fluid accumulation despite stomach dialysis?

Question

Hello doctor,

My sister has been undergoing stomach dialysis treatment for the past one month. Now, she has developed water in the lungs. Due to that, there is breathlessness, no appetite, no sleep, and water retention in the feet and stomach. The doctor has removed 1 liter of water from the lungs, but the second day it is accumulating. What will be the treatment?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Your sister is undergoing peritoneal (stomach) dialysis. Now, she has fluid retention in her body. This can be either due to a change in her fluid intake habits wherein she has now increased fluid intake; another reason may be that the dialysis technique is not resulting in adequate water removal from her body as well as poor clearance of toxic material (which may account for her poor appetite).

We also have to see if the medicine fluid which we installed in her stomach is going into her chest cavity. Having excluded the latter condition, I would suggest her to have a PET test which will give an idea of how her stomach surface membrane is working. This will give an idea of how we can tailor our dialysis schedule for her (number of sessions per day, duration of each session, the concentration of fluid to be used, etc.).

I hope I have helped you.