[Basal fecal fermentation and with lactulose in patients with flatulence]

Determinations of the fecal fermentation in subjects may be very useful to know the fermentative capacity of his colonic bacteria. Determinations of basal fecal fermentation (FFB) and fecal fermentation with lactulose (FFL) were done in 30 normal subjects and 126 patients with flatulence, especially meteorism. The media +/- s.d. of FFB was significantly higher in the normal subjects than in the patients with flatulence (1.82 +/- 1.55 vs. 1.24 +/- 1.40 ml of gas/24 h; P: 0.015). On the contrary, in patients with flatulence the obtained media +/- s.d. of FFL and of the differences between FFL and FFB (FFL-FFB) were significantly and markedly higher than in the normal subjects (respectively: 8.84 +/- 5.55 vs. 5.72 +/- 3.72 ml of gas/24 h, P: 0.004; and 7.60 +/- 5.05 vs. 3.91 +/- 3.22 ml of gas/24 h, P<0.00001). The obtained results seem to indicate that patients with flatulence tend to have a colonic flora with high fermentative capacity.