Polycystic kidney disease is an inherited multisystem disorder. It causes progressive loss of kidney function, flank pain, urinary tract infection, arterial hypertension and vascular abnormalities. Until the present time the treatment of polycystic kidney disease has been symptomatic. New approaches based on cell culture of cyst wall epithelia and on the discovery of polycystins 1 and 2 have lead to novel treatment protocols to attack the origin of the disease. These protocols involve vasopressin antagonists, rapamycin and somatostatin at the present time.