Abstract
Background: Patients with cirrhosis and ascites carry a high risk of ascitic fluid (AF) infection. Identification of bacterial DNA in patients with cirrhotic ascites may provide a rapid and accurate tool helping in diagnosis of AF infection when it is compared with culture-based methodology to initiate treatment in such cases. Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of broad range 16 S ribosomal RNA gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in diagnosis of AF infection. Methdology: A total of 130 liver cirrhotic ascetic patients were subjected to thorough history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations including, AF samples analysis for polymorh nuclear leucocytic (PMN) count, bacterial culture and PCR- bacterial DNA detection. Results: The sensitivities of PMN count, culture and PCR in diagnosing AF infection were 73.8%, 31.5% and 80.1% respectively, while the accuracies were 77.6%, 41.5% and 83% respectively. Conclusion: Bacterial DNA in AF samples might be an alternative diagnostic method to AF bacterial culture and PMN count in early diagnosis and promp treatment of AF infection.
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