The Significance of Abnormal Bacterial Proliferation in the Gastrointestinal Tract after Gastric Surgery

The juices of the stomach or stomach remnant and of the jejunum of twenty-one patients who had undergone gastroenterostomy and twenty-six patients with partial gastrectomy have been studied for the presence of faecal type organisms as represented by Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcus faecalis and Clostridium welchii. In the postgastrectomy cases faecal type organisms were commonly found in abnormal concentrations. After gastroenterostomy with vagotomy the bacteriological findings were very similar. It was not possible to show any relationship between the presence of steatorrhoea, diarrhoea, and impaired absorption of vitamin B12 and the finding of abnormal numbers of these organisms. The possible effect on the bacteriological findings of the achlorhydria which was commonly found in these patients is discussed.