Detection of colon flora in peritoneal drain fluid after colorectal surgery: can RT-PCR play a role in diagnosing anastomotic leakage?

Background and objectives: a semi-quantitative real-time pcr strategy was developed to identify indicator organisms for an indication on anastomotic leakage in peritoneal drainage fluid, escherichia coli and enterococcus faecalis.materials and methods: the analytical performance of the amplification method was validated with 10 culture-positive and 7 culture negative peritoneal drain fluid samples, obtained from 9 different patients with a colorectal anastomosis.results: real-time pcr results were fully concordant with the microbiological culture results. however, among the culture negative samples, four false-positive rt-pcr results were found. all false-positives originated from a single patient with a surgical site infection. this may indicate an elevated sensitivity of the rt-pcr method.conclusion: the results showed that the semi-quantitative rt-pcr method has the clear potential to be useful as a powerful tool in early detection of anastomotic leakage.