[Comparative study of 2 culture methods by seeding, in hemoculture bottles, the dialysis fluid from patients in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis].
BACKGROUND: Peritonitis remains a major complication of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). The accurate diagnosis of peritonitis is a requirement for a successful CAPD program. A prospective study was performed to evaluate two culture methods. METHODS: 1. Culture of 10 ml of uncentrifuged peritoneal fluid and 2. Culture of the sediment of 50 ml centrifuged and resuspended in 20 ml of distilled water, into aerobe/anaerobe hemoculture bottles (Hemoline, BioMérieux). We processed 162 PF from 138 CAPD peritonitis episodes, 33 of whom were in antimicrobial drug therapy. RESULTS: The sensibility/specificity of both methods (87.0/70.8 method 1 and 81.9/79.2) were similar. Both methods were more sensitive (p = 0.001) when the patient was no in antimicrobial drug therapy (60.6/88.6 method 1 and 69.7/92.4 method 2). We isolated 132 microorganisms, 64.4% Gram positive, 25.0% Gram negative, 4.6% anaerobes and 6.1% levures. CONCLUSION: Both methods were similar and the more important factor to increase the yield of culture is to remove the antibiotic presents in centrifuged fluid.