Value of serum procalcitonin levels in predicting spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Background/aims: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a life-threatening disease that poses a great diagnostic challenge to clinicians. We aimed to systemically and quantitatively summarize the current evidence on the diagnostic value of the procalcitonin (PCT) test in identifying SBP.

Methodology: We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, the Cochrane database and reference lists of relevant articles with no language restrictions through May 2012.