SPONTANEOUS BACTERIAL PERITONITIS

Objectives: To find out the diagnostic accuracy of ascitic fluid LactateDehydrogenase in diagnosis of Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis using ascitic fluid absoluteneutrophil count equal to or greater than 250 cells/mm3 as a Gold Standard. Study Design:Cross sectional (validation) study. Setting: This study was conducted in department ofMedicine, Madina Teaching Hospital Faisalabad. Duration of Study: 6 months starting afterapproval of synopsis (From:01-06-2016 to 30-11-16). Methodology: 10 ml of ascitic fluidwas withdrawn from these patients, and sent for cytology and biochemistry. Ascitic fluid cellcount, total protein, albumin and LDH wascalculated along with serum albumin and serumLDH. Serum LDH and ascitic fluid LDH was calculated by using Cobas C311 Roche Analyzer,serum/ascitic albumin gradient (SAAG) was calculated by subtracting ascitic albumin fromserum albumin to prove portal hypertension as a cause of ascites. AsciticLDH/serum LDH ratiowas calculated by dividing ascitic LDH by serum LDH.Absolute neutrophil count was derivedfrom total WBC count. Results: In our study, mean age was calculated as 45.37+11.13 years,53.75% (n=43) were male and 46.25% (n=37) were females. Frequency SBP on gold standardwas recorded in 52.5% (n=42). Diagnostic accuracy of ascitic fluid lactate dehydrogenasein diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis using ascitic fluid absolute neutrophil countequal to or greater than 250 cells/mm3 as a gold standard was recorded as 82.22%, 85.71%,88.09%, 78.95%, 83.75% for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictivevalue and accuracy rate, positive likelihood ratio was calculated as 5.75 and 0.21 for negativelikelihood ratio was calculated as 5.75. Conclusion: The diagnostic accuracy of ascitic fluidLactate Dehydrogenase is higher in diagnosis of Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis using asciticfluid absolute neutrophil count equal to or greater than 250 cells/mm3 as a Gold Standard.