Background/Aims : Patients with liver cirrhosis who have experienced recurrent spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) often show symptoms and signs indicating mechanical small bowel obstruction without obvious causes. It may result from peritoneal fibrosis and adhesion due to recurrent peritoneal inflammation, but there has been no reports about it. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, prognosis and risk factors of this complication in cirrhotic patients with ascites. Methods : For twenty cirrhotic patients with ascites who visited our hospital from April to December 1998, cell counts, biochemical parameters and the concentration of transforming growth factor-βin ascitic fluid were measured. They were followed up monthly until January 2000. Results: Mechanical intestinal obstruction developed in three out of nine patients with SBP, but not in the rest 11 patients without SBP. The frequency of SBP (p<0.05) were significantly higher in patients who developed intestinal obstruction than in those who did not. One patient out of three who had both SBP and subsequent intestinal obstruction died and 2 received liver transplantation, and three out of six who had only SBP without intestinal obstruction survived. Conclusions : Symptomatic intestinal obstruction may occur in patients with liver cirrhosis who have experienced SBP, and its risk increases with the increasing frequency of SBP. (Kor J Gastroenterol 2000;36:522 - 528)