Intestinal absorption following small-bowel resection.

Proximal or distal small-bowel resection was performed on female Wistar rats. Water, glucose, electrolyte, and bile acid absorption from the perfusate was studied in bile-fistula sham-operated rats and in animals 3 months after intestinal resection, using an in-vivo recirculation perfusion system. The jejunum and caecum, but not the colon, showed adaptive increases in intestinal absorption after resection of the ileum, and supranormal bile acid absorption and enhanced glucose, water, and electrolyte absorption were demonstrated in the ileum after jejunal resection. The improvement in diarrhoea observed in some patients after right hemicolectomy may be due to compensatory changes in the residual colon; rectal mucosal thickness becomes significantly increased after right hemicoletomy.