Peritoneal dialysis
Dialysis becomes necessary when the kidneys can no longer perform their task of purifying the blood. This is the case with kidney failure. Since certain substances occur in the blood, which must be removed, otherwise they become toxic for the body, the blood must be artificially purified in these cases.
One method of artificial blood purification is the so-called peritoneal dialysis. Since the peritoneum acts as a kind of membrane that is connected to the blood, certain substances that occur in the blood can be removed and added if necessary. A dialysis fluid is used for this purpose, which is washed around the peritoneum via a catheter.
After a few hours, the substances that are toxic to the body have accumulated in the fluid and the fluid must be replaced. Since the fluid used also contains sugar (glucose), it removes water from the body, which would normally also be excreted via the kidneys. The decisive advantage of peritoneal dialysis over haemodialysis is that it can also be performed at home by the patient himself. In contrast, haemodialysis must be performed in a hospital and also takes several hours.
Peritoneal Cancer
Peritoneal cancer, also known as peritoneal carcinomatosis, is a malignant tumor disease that usually occurs as metastases of other tumors. Tumours that affect organs that are also located in the peritoneal cavity and have reached an advanced stage metastasise particularly frequently into the peritoneum. Depending on the stage of the disease, symptoms can occur that indicate the presence of peritoneal carcinoma.
Thus, in addition to unspecific symptoms such as poor general condition, weight loss and pain, symptoms caused by the growing tumour can also occur. Above all, intestinal obstructions and a large amount of abdominal fluid can be caused by a growing tumour of the peritoneum. The treatment options for diagnosed peritoneal cancer are very limited.
Surgical removal of the tumours is usually not possible and the cancer responds very poorly to conventional chemotherapy. There are methods that attempt to direct chemotherapy directly into the peritoneal cavity in order to make it more effective against the cancer. Despite these new surgical procedures, the prognosis for diagnosed peritoneal cancer is very poor.
Peritoneal metastases
Tumours that occur in the peritoneum arise largely from so-called primary tumours that occur in other, surrounding organs of the abdominal cavity. Tumours of the intestine, stomach or ovaries in particular often metastasise into the peritoneum. The tumours are usually very widely spread, meaning that there are many metastases that are distributed over the peritoneum.
Usually these metastases do not appear until the late stage of the underlying primary tumours, which is why the prognosis for healing the disease is very poor. Therapeutically, intraoperative chemotherapy has been used for several years now, which has a greater effect on tumour growth than conventional systemic chemotherapy. The diagnosis of peritoneal metastases is relatively difficult because the metastases are very difficult to detect with conventional imaging methods. Thus, most diagnoses are made when the primary tumour is detected or during routine follow-up examinations. Symptoms that affect the general condition and, depending on the size of the metastases, can also cause intestinal problems, may be an indication of the presence of peritoneal metastases.
