Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis and acute appendicitis.

Peritonitis in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis while usually due to contamination of the dialysis line by skin organisms may also be due to intra-abdominal pathology. Three cases are described in whom peritonitis was due to acute appendicitis. The recognition of an intra-abdominal source of infection in patients on CAPD is discussed, and surgical management stressed.