Studies on the Movement of the Intestinal Bacterial Flora by a Non-intestinal Surgical Procedure

Abstract

Response of the intestinal bacterial flora to an operative insult in the field of orthopedic surgery without a direct stimulation of the intestinal tract was studied. The first problem is whether or not an operative insult in orthopedic surgery causes a fluctuation of the intestinal bacterial flora, and if so, to what extent ; and, the second one is whether or not such an event results in the formation of a new bacterial flora and whether such a change is transient and recovers to the former state or is permanent. Thirty patients, without diseases of the digestive tract, with stable stool properties, and indications for operation in orthorpedic surgery, were studied. The intestinal bacterial flora was studied by the following 4 methods1. Ratio between the E. coli group and the Enterococcus group.2. Changes of the E. coli group based on type classification by the Imvic system.3. Changes of the E. coli group based on properties of the colonies on EMB plate cultures for separation.4. The attitude of sensitivity of E, coli against the drug used. These results are summarized as follows.1. By each of the 4 methods used, the bacterial flora in the stool changes postoperatively from the preoperative state. In all cases, however, a return to normal was seen within 3 weeks.2. No difference was observed among patients subjected to general anesthesia, lumbar anes thesia and local anesthesia.3. Differences due to diseases could not be studied due to the insufficient number of cases in the present study.4. In some cases, the ratio between the E. coli group and the Enterococcus group appeared to be unchanged, but a detailed examination revealed that this was due to the drug used.