[Clinical significance of the 14C-glycocholate breath test in the diagnosis of gastro-enterological diseases (author's transl)].

The 14C-glycocholate breath test was performed in 15 normal subjects and 134 patients clinically suspected of bacterial overgrowth in the proximal small intestine, with functional impairment of the ileum and chologenic diarrohea as well as other forms of diarrhoea. In addition, faecal weight, faecal fat excretion and faecal bile-acid excretion were measured. Early and highest 14CO2 expiration peaks were found as an expression of increased deconjugation of bile acids in patients with fistulae between proximal small intestine and colon, and in 13 of 24 patients with Billroth II gastric resection or duodenopancreatectomy. Bile-acid deconjugation was not increased in sprue, chronic pancreatitis with steatorrhoea, ulcerative colitis, irritable colon, Whipple's disease, Salmonella enteritis, non-specific enteritis, or laxative abuse. In six of twelve patients with Crohn's disease of the ileum there was an increase in deconjugation of bile acids.