Patient Acceptance of Routine Serial Postoperative Endoscopy Following Low Anterior Resection (LAR) and Its Ability to Detect Biomarkers in Anastomotic Lavage Fluid.

Background: Various reports have now established that postoperative endoscopy to examine and intervene in the process of anastomotic healing is both feasible and safe. Here we present our preliminary experience with serial postoperative endoscopy to determine its feasibility, patient acceptance and the ability to obtain and the utility of perianastomotic material for molecular analysis.

Methods: Patients undergoing LAR with ileostomy for rectal cancer were recruited for study to undergo routine serial endoscopic surveillance (SES) at three time points during the course of LAR: intraoperatively, before discharge (postoperative day 3-7) and at follow-up (postoperative day 10-28).

Media from macrophages co-incubated with Enterococcus faecalis induces epithelial cell monolayer reassembly and altered cell morphology.

Signal exchange between intestinal epithelial cells, microbes and local immune cells is an important mechanism of intestinal homeostasis. Given that intestinal macrophages are in close proximity to both the intestinal epithelium and the microbiota, their pathologic interactions may result in epithelial damage. The present study demonstrates that co-incubation of murine macrophages with E.

Modeling Acinetobacter baumannii wound infections: The critical role of iron.

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an increasingly important and successful opportunistic human pathogen due to its ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions, its characteristic virulence factors, and quick adaptability to stress.

Methods: We developed a clinically relevant murine model of A. baumannii traumatic wound infection to determine the effect of local wound environment on A.

Critical role of microbiota within cecal crypts on the regenerative capacity of the intestinal epithelium following surgical stress.

Unlabelled: Cecal crypts represent a unique niche that are normally occupied by the commensal microbiota. Due to their density and close proximity to stem cells, microbiota within cecal crypts may modulate epithelial regeneration. Here we demonstrate that surgical stress, a process that invariably involves a short period of starvation, antibiotic exposure, and tissue injury, results in cecal crypt evacuation of their microbiota.

Morphine Promotes Colonization of Anastomotic Tissues with Collagenase - Producing Enterococcus faecalis and Causes Leak.

Background: Despite ever more powerful antibiotics, newer surgical techniques, and enhanced recovery programs, anastomotic leaks remain a clear and present danger to patients. Previous work from our laboratory suggests that anastomotic leakage may be caused by Enterococcus faecalis strains that express a high collagenase phenotype (i.e.