[Early postoperative intestinal motility following abdominal surgery in an animal experiment]

Gastrointestinal myoelectrical activity was registered in 6 dogs after different surgical procedures such as laparotomy, segmental resection of the jejunum and right hemicolectomy. Animals were studied in the fasted- and fed state and after pharmacological stimulation with Ceruletide. The electrical activity was recorded by means of 6 bipolar electrodes implanted along the intestinal wall. Abdominal surgery abolished normal motility in the stomach and small intestine only for a short period of time. The time for the reappearance of regularly recurring activity fronts varied with the type of the surgical procedure from 3 h after segmental resection of the jejunum to 49 h after colon resection. Severe disturbances of the BER (basic electrical rhythm) in the stomach as tachygastria and tachyarrhythmia persist even after restoration of the MMC (migrating motor complex) in the small intestine. Feeding induced a typical fedpattern but never before restoration of the MMC. Stimulation of the intestine during postoperative ileus with Ceruletide increases segmental myoelectrical activity. The period of postoperative ileus was not reduced.