Towards standardized reporting in studies of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis.

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS), a serious but uncommon complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD), initially well described in the Japanese patient population (1–3), is now widely recognized. Because of the severe morbidity and mortality attached, EPS has the potential to negatively affect perceptions of the value of PD as a long-term therapy and so affect the take-on rate and increase early transfer to HD. It is now well established that EPS is strongly associated with duration of PD therapy (4,5), with ultrafiltration failure associated with membrane fibrosis (6,7), and also, paradoxically, with stopping PD. Nevertheless, significant deficits in the understanding of EPS remain. That lack of understanding is implicit in nonspecific diagnostic criteria and an uncertain association with peritonitis, issues that arise in a study by Wong et al. (8) in this issue of Peritoneal Dialysis International.