[Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis--a review of Japanese case reports]

Fifty eight cases of SBP for the latest 20 years in Japan were reviewed. General symptoms due to SBP were ascites (100%), abdominal pain (93%), jaundice (86%), fever (57%) and rebound tenderness (55%), including male/female ratio of 2.6:1. Eighty eight per cent of SBP patients had cirrhosis. Although there was no difference between bacterial spieces causing SBP in the first ten years and latter ten years, survival of short period within 2 weeks was improved from 26.7% to 71.4%. However, long survival of 6 months was very poor yet. In patients with decompensated liver function, prophylactic and early treatment of SBP were recommended for improvement of long survival in SBP patients.