Enriched-Culture Polymerase Chain Reaction, a Promising Approach for Diagnosing Tuberculous Peritonitis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) peritonitis in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD) carries poor outcomes with reported mortality rates ranging from 15% to 58%.1-4 Although the 2022 International Society for PD (ISPD) Guidelines recommend anti-tuberculous therapy without mandatory PD catheter removal as the primary treatment of peritonitis caused by M. tuberculosis (2C), many practices still advocate PD catheter removal and claim favorable outcomes with this approach.1,2 Unfortunately, diagnosing and initiating early treatment for tuberculous peritonitis in PD pose challenges due to non-specific clinical symptoms that resemble bacterial peritonitis, characterized by neutrophil predominance (65-78%).