Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis undergoing selective intestinal decontamination

Background/Aims: Selective intestinal decontamination with norfloxacin is widely used to prevent spontaneous bacterial infections in cirrhosis. The study was performed to compared the spontaneous bacterial peritonitis occurring in patients with and without prophylactic norfloxacin. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-nine consecutive episodes of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, (193 patients without (Group A) and 36 in patients with norfloxacin prophylaxis (Group B)), were retorspectively analyzed. In 100 episodes (86 and 14, respectively), the responsible organism was isolated in ascitic fluid. Results: Clinical and laboratory data at diagnosis were comparable in both groups. There were marked differences ( p Conclusions: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with and without prophylaxis with norfloxacin are not different in clinical features, response to treatment and prognosis. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis caused by gram-negative organisms resistant to quinolones is extremely uncommon in patients with cirrhosis receiving prophylatic norfloxacin.