Background: It is difficult to diagnose spontaneous bacterial
peritonitis (SBP) early in ascitic patients. The aim of the study was to
measure serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels to obtain an early diagnostic
indication of SBP in ascitic patients. Methods: A total of 62 patients (mean
age: 54.4 ? 10.7, 77.4% were males) hospitalized due to cirrhosis (n=57) or
non-cirrhosis related (n=5) ascites were included in this study. Spontaneous
bacterial peritonitis (SBP, 19.4%), culture-negative SBP (35.5%), bacterascites
(6.5%), sterile ascites (30.6%) and non-cirrhotic ascites (8.1%) groups were
compared in terms of procalcitonin levels in predicting ascites infection.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic
performance of procalcitonin levels. Results: Culture positivity was determined
in 25.8% of overall population. Serum procalcitonin levels were determined to
be significantly higher in patients with positive bacterial culture in ascitic
fluid compared to patients without culture positivity (median (min-max): 3.35
(0.05?6.4) vs. 0.2 (0.05-1.9), p=0.000). Using ROC analysis, a serum
procalcitonin level of >1.9 ng/mL (area under curve (AUC): 0.791,
sensitivity: 75%, specificity: 100%, positive predictive value 100% and
negative predictive value 92%) were determined to accurately help the diagnosis
of bacterial peritonitis. Conclusion: According to our findings, determination
of serum procalcitonin levels seems to provide accurate and rapid diagnosis of ascitic
fluid infection - See more at:
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