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PATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT OF ENCAPSULATING PERITONEAL SCLEROSIS: BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Correspondence to: M.F. Flessner, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 N State St., Jackson, Mississippi 39216 USA. mflessner{at}medicine.umsmed.edu

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis is a devastating condition in long-term peritoneal dialysis patients. Animal models have employed chemical insults to simulate its pathology and have provided insights into its pathophysiology, which appears to include inflammation, angiogenesis, and fibrosis. Monitoring of biomarkers and interruption of molecular pathways have provided potential interventions to slow or prevent the disease process. However, there remain many questions concerning the trigger that alters chronic peritoneal inflammation in peritoneal dialysis to severe sclerosis, peritoneal adhesions, and bowel obstruction. Further advances in therapy will likely require an effective means of an early diagnosis through related biomarkers, which in turn will require further advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease process.

KEY WORDS: Peritoneum; inflammation; cytokine; foreign body.

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