Spontaneous Peritonitis of Liver Cirrhosis

An Autopsy Case

Abstract

A 27-year-old man with decompensated liver cirrhosis developed clinical characteristics of peritonitis, i. e. abrupt onset of fever, chills, abdominal pain with rebound tenderness and absent bowel sound, hypotension and leukocytosis. The patient expired despite vigorous antibiotic interfusion. An autopsy showed liver cirrhosis, splenomegaly and localized colitis. It was our speculation that weakened local resistance of the intestinal mucosa due to colitis may have led to the invasion of the peritoneal cavity by the enteric bacteria, serratia marcescens.