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Gastro-intestinal flora and diarrhoea after Vagotomy
Abstract
Twenty patients, 7 of whom had diarrhoea after vagotomy and drainage, were investigated by culture of gastric and jejunal aspirates and measurements of faecal fat, free bile acids in jejunal fluid, urinary indican excretion, serum folate and serum vitamin B,2. The haematological findings were compared with those in 20 patients with duodenal ulcer who had not undergone surgery and in 25 healthy controls. The pattern of small bowel flora was normal after vagotomy; this was consistent where the normal results of the urinary indican estimations. There was no relationship between diarrhoea and the bacteriological results. Steatorrhoea occurred in 6 of the 7 patients with diarrhoea and in only 1 of 13 without diarrhoea, suggesting a relationship between diarrhoea and faecal fat excretion after vagotomy and drainage. The mean serum folate and vitamin B'2 levels of the patients after vagotomy were significantly lower than those
in healthy controls. Some of the folate levels in the duodenal ulcer controls were subnormal.
in healthy controls. Some of the folate levels in the duodenal ulcer controls were subnormal.