Bacterial infections in cirrhosis: Current treatment

Abstract

Bacterial infections frequently cause decompensating events in cirrhotic patients and are also the most common factor identified for the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The increase in the prevalence of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) microorganisms has resulted in the reduced effectiveness of empiric antimicrobial treatment. We conducted a PubMed search from the last 20 years using the Keywords cirrhosis; multidrug-resistant; infections; diagnosis; treatment; prophylaxis; monitoring; sepsis; nutrition and antibiotic resistant. We made a review about bacterial infections among cirrhotic patients; we mainly focus on the description of diagnostic tools; biomarkers; clinical scores for diagnosis and prognosis also; we made an analysis concerning the monitoring of cirrhotic patients with sepsis and finally made some recommendations about the treatment; prophylaxis and prevention.

Keywords

• Sepsis
• Multidrug-resistant
• Acute-on-chronic liver failure
• Liver
• Cirrhosis