Infectious complications in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of any chronic liver disease. Complications occurring in patients with liver cirrhosis may be specific to this pathology and to gastroenterology (upper gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy) or may interfere with other specialties (hepatorenal syndrome, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and other localized infectious complications). Over the past few decades, major efforts have been made to increase survival in patients with cirrhosis, but unfortunately, few therapeutic methods have been proven effective. Bacterial infections are frequent and serious complications of liver cirrhosis, resulting in high morbidity and mortality, especially in hospitalized patients, despite significant progress in health care for those with advanced liver disease.