Who needs peritoneal dialysis?
If your kidneys are failing, you may need dialysis to help control your blood pressure and maintain the proper balance of fluid and various chemicals — such as potassium and sodium — in your body. Dialysis also helps your body maintain the proper acid-base balance. Sometimes kidney failure is caused by a specific kidney disease. In other cases, it’s a complication of another condition, such as: • Diabetes • High blood pressure (hypertension) • Kidney inflammation (glomerulonephritis) • Inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) • Polycystic kidney disease But peritoneal dialysis isn’t appropriate for everyone with kidney failure.
