Experimental peritonitis produced by gastric juice, bile or feces.

Abstract

Seventy-four patients of acute diffuse peritonitis were briefly reviewed. Fecal peritonitis due to perforation of the colon showed a remarkably high mortality, though the operation was carried out in general earlier than in other types of peritonitis. Three types of peritonitis, fecal, gastric juice and bile peritonitis, were produced experimentally in dogs. Changes in blood pressure, hematocrit, plasma protein, plasma volume, water contents of the intestine, acid-base balance and bacterial culture of the blood were studied in each type of peritonitis. Severe hypovolemia was considered to be an important factor in the early development of shock in fecal peritonitis, but hypovolemia alone was not sufficient to account for the extreme severity of fecal peritonitis. Blood culture became positive within a few hours after the onset of fecal peritonitis and severe septicemia, seemed to be another important factor which contributed to aggravation of symptoms in this disease. The present authors, however, could not demonstrate endotoxin-like substance in the circulating blood of dogs with severe fecal peritonitis.