Spontaneous Peritonitis in Cirrhotic Hospital In-patients: Retrospective Analysis of 101 Cases

One hundred and one patients with cirrhosis resulting from alcoholabuse, admitted to Broussais University Hospital, Paris, betweenJanuary, 1986 and December, 1989 were assessed for infectionof the ascitic fluid using clinical and cytobacteriologicalcriteria. All of 46 patients (45.5%) with clinical signs andsymptoms of peritonitis had an ascitic fluid polymorphonuclear(PMN) count > 250 cells/mm³. Bacteria could be isolated fromthe ascitic fluid of 23 patients (50%). Twenty-six bacterialstrains were isolated(there was more than one strain in twosamples). Escherichia coli was found in 14 cases. It is noteworthythat no anaerobes were grown. Mortality, biochemical parametersand clinical features correlated significantly with an asciticfluid PMN count > 250 cells/mm³. High mortality correlatedwith a PMN count > 1000 cells/mm³ (70% vs. 33%).