[Whole gut irrigation in pediatric patients: a comparative study].

The observation of hydroelectric and pH changes, as well as the diminishing incidence of postoperative infections in pediatric patients, subjected to digestive irrigation (D.I.) before surgery, was the reason for carrying out this paper, fundamentally directed at two objectives: Firstly, to determine the hydro-ionic and clinical repercussions by means of a comparative study of the two most used irrigations solutions and secondly, to analyze the modifications that the D.I., itself and with the addition of antibiotics, is capable of producing on the fecal flora and the intestinal mucous membrane. To realize our aim, a prospective and double blinded study was designed on 124 patients irrigated with a saline solution (S-I), or with the Golytely solution (S-II). The analysis of the results showed that exist a marked predisposition to metabolic acidosis and dehydration after irrigation with S-II, compared with a tendency towards hyperhydration and alkalosis after irrigation with S-I. The effect of flushing with D.I. is capable of producing a significant lowering in the number of germs/ml found in the contents of the colon; a reduction which increases for the anaerobic group (p less than 0.001), when the antibiotics are added to the irrigation solution. Neither of the studied cases gave evidence of histomorphologic alterations in the colonic mucosa after irrigation with erythromycin and neomycin base.