Peritoneal-mediastinal leakage complication of peritoneal dialysis.

The authors report a case of mediastinal fluid collection resulting from peritoneal-mediastinal communication after continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case in the medical literature. A dry cough developed in the patient who had been receiving CAPD for 4 years. A mediastinal mass owing to peritoneal leakage of dialysate to the mediastinum was confirmed by a computed tomography scan taken 4 hours after the intraperitoneal infusion of contrast-mixed dialysate. The leakage persisted for 12 weeks after the discontinuation of CAPD fluid instillation.