Incidence of endotoxinuria following major abdominal surgery

After major abdomoninal surgery urine endoxin levels were detected and compared with bacterial cultures in 148 patients. Urine samples were collected via suprapubic or transurethral catheters. The urinary endotoxin excretion was detected with a chromogenic modification of the limulus-amebocyte test. Urine endotoxin levels of patients with positive bacteriological findings (n=15) had high endotoxin levels (> 0.7 EU/ml). Also, there was a strong statistically significant difference of endotoxin levels in samples with bacterial growth compared to samples with fungal or without any growth (p < 0.001). Nearly all patients with Urinary tract infection (UTI) were endotoxin positive. The detection of urinary endotoxin is a fast diagnostic tool (result within four hours). Furthermore endotoxin determination obtained by suprapubic or transurethral catheters is a very sensitive method for diagnosis of bacterial contamination, even during antibiotic treatment.