‘Bacterial translocation (BT) describes the passage of bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract to normally sterile tissues such as the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and other internal organs. The clinical and pathophysiological significance of BT remains controversial. This report describes results obtained over a 13-year period of study.”
Table 1. Patients characteristics and indication for laparotomy
| Type of surgery | |
| Emergency | 185 |
| Elective | 742 |
| Diagnosis | |
| Malignancy | 543 (58·6) |
| Upper gastrointestinal | 26 |
| Pancreaticohepatobiliary | 16 |
| Colorectal | 402 |
| Other | 99 |
| Inflammatory bowel disease | 94 (10·1) |
| Crohn’s disease | 44 |
| Ulcerative colitis | 50 |
| Benign upper gastrointestinal | 54 (5·8) |
| Benign pancreaticohepatobiliary | 44 (4·7) |
| Benign lower gastrointestinal | 105 (11·3) |
| Abdominal aortic aneurysm | 87 (9·4) |