The influence of small bowel contamination on the pathogenesis of bowel obstruction.

Altered motility of the intestine after laparotomy, adynamic bowel segments, blind bowel loops following bypass operations, or diverticula may cause pathological growth of intestinal microflora and thus lead to contaminated small bowel syndrome (CSBS). As a result of malabsorption in the jejunum and ileum, loss of weight, growth arrest, diarrhea, steatorrhea, megaloblastic anemia, and hypoproteinemia may occur. In addition to these, the acute symptoms of small bowel contamination, intestinal obstruction and secretory diarrhea, are less well known. A stenosis in the terminal ileum was experimentally created in Göttingen minipigs and the bacterial flora of the small bowel assessed by quantitative cultures. After 3 months the number of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in the pre- and poststenotic region had increased by a factor of 10(2)-10(5). The acute form of CSBS was diagnosed by microbiological examination of gastric samples in 14 children. After the children were treated with orally and intravenously administered antibiotics, the symptoms disappeared within 12-36 h. Reoperations for small bowel obstruction can be avoided by conservative treatment of CSBS with antibiotics.