We retrospectively reviewed 38 episodes of peritonitis in 34 CAPDpatients between September 2007 and February 2010. Two methods of processing dialysate from patients on CAPD were used. Blood culture was performed using two 10-mL effluents, which were inoculated into a pair of BACTEC culture bottles. The conventional method was performed using 50 mL of centrifuged dialysate. The sedimented dialysate was inoculated onto bloodagar and MacConkey agar plates or into thioglycollate broth. To evaluate effectiveness, we compared the rate of positive culture results and the time to identify the causative organism of the two culturemethods.
RESULTS:
Use of the BACTEC bottle method resulted in more positive culture results than did conventional culture (86.8 vs. 57.9% p = 0.003). The time taken to identify the causative organism from culture-positive peritonitis was more rapid using the blood culture compared with the conventional culturemethod (90 vs. 109 hr, p = 0.03).