Role of Dipstick (Leucocyte Esterase Reagent Strips) in the Rapid Bedside Diagnosis of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis

Objectives: To evaluate the dipstick in the rapid bedside diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and avoid delay in initiation of antibiotic therapy and evaluate the prevalence of SBP by a conventional method. Methods: A prospective analysis was done on inpatients and OPD patients with cirrhotic ascites at Jaipur Golden Hospital Delhi, India. The study included 110 consecutive patients with cirrhotic ascites. The patients were divided into 2 groups those with the polymorph nuclear leucocytes (PMNs) >250/mm3 on cell count (positive result) and those with PMNs <250/mm3 (Negative results) and were then compared to the dipstick results. The results were used to find the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the rapid dipstick method for the diagnosis of SBP. In addition, the data was used to calculate the prevalence of SBP in our hospital. Results: A total number of 110 patients with cirrhotic ascites were studied who were presented to the Jaipur Golden Hospital, New Delhi, India with the complaint of abdominal distension. A total of 20 patients were diagnosed with SBP by the manual cell count method which is considered a gold standard for the diagnosis of SBP, and 90 patients were diagnosed as non-SBP. We re-diagnosed these 20 patients with SBP with a dipstick method, the dipstick method showed a positive result for 18 patients (90%) and a negative result for 2 patients (10%). Conclusion: In the SBP group, the dipstick showed 18 true positives and 2 false negatives. In the non-SBP group of 90 patients, the dipstick method showed negative results in all the patients with no positive results. Thus, the dipstick showed 100% true negatives with 0% false positives. The prevalence of SBP in patients with cirrhotic ascites in a hospital was found at 18.2%.