KUMJ | VOL. 5 | NO. 1 | ISSUE 17 | JAN-MAR, 2007

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in cirrhotic ascites: A prospective study in a tertiary care hospital, Nepal
Syed VA, Ansari JA, Karki P, Regmi M, Khanal B

Background: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is one of the potentially lethal complications of cirrhosis and is defined as infected ascites in the absence of any recognizable secondary cause of infection.
Objective: was to study the occurrence of SBP, clinical and laboratory characteristics and the response to antibiotics.
Methods: We had prospectively evaluated 81 cirrhotic patients with ascites during one-year period. All SBP patients were treated with cefotaxime, 2gm IV, every 12h for 5days.
Results: Of these 81 patients, 24.67% of patients (n=20) had SBP and its variants (classical SBP n= 4, CNNA n=13 and bacterascites n=3). There were thirteen males and 7 females in the study.85% of the cases had Child`s class C cirrhosis. UGI bleeding and abdominal pain were the most common presenting symptoms of SBP. Culture positives were 35% (n=7). The most frequent organisms were Escherichia coli (n=3) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (n=2).94% of the patients responded to therapy after 48 hours of treatment. Total resolution after 5 days of therapy was 73% and in-hospital mortality was 15% (n=3).
Conclusion: SBP, if diagnosed early can be treated with very good success rate up to 73%. Appropriate treatment of SBP with cefotaxime can help in reducing mortality and morbidity in patients with chronic liver disease.