SPONTANEOUS BACTERIAL PERITONITIS: A COMMON AND LETHAL COMPLICATION OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE

Objective: To determine the frequency and pattern of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with chronic liver disease. Patients and Methods: Total fifty patients of age ≥12 years and either gender had liver cirrhosis (known / diagnosed cases) with ascites were included in this six months cross sectional study. The ascitic fluid analysis was done by taking 10 ml of ascitic fluid in a 10 CC sterilize syringe and ascitic fluid neutrophil count greater than 250 cells/µL was considered to be the case of SBP. The frequency and percentages was calculated for categorical variables whereas the numerical statistics were used to compute mean ±SD in SPSS 16. Results: During six months study period total fifty patients with chronic liver disease were evaluate for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. The mean ± for age (years) & duration of chronic liver disease (years) for whole population was 45.62±5.98 & 7.93 ±2.41 respectively. The SBP observed in 37 (74%) while the common pathogen detected were E. Coli 10 (27%), S. aureus (18.9%) and Klebsiella 6 (16.2%) whereas regarding outcome 26 (70.2%) patients were recovered, recurrence observed in 5 (13.5%) and mortality in 6 (16.2%) respectively. Conclusion: SBP is a common and recurrent complication of cirrhosis and the ascitic fluid examination including culture and sensitivity is more sensitive and best tool as far as diagnose and management is concerned Keywords: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, Chronic liver disease, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.