The urinary excretion of
phenol,
p-cresol, and
indican was determined in 7 patients with the
stagnant loop syndrome, 26 patients with coeliac
disease, chronic pancreatitis, and partial
gastrectomy, and 18 control patients. The mean excretion of the compounds in the patients with the
stagnant loop syndrome and in the control patients, respectively, was 77 and 2.3 mg/24 h of
phenol (p less than 0.05), 164 and 39.5 mg/24 h of
p-cresol (n.s.), and 369 and 41.5 mg/24 h of
indican (p less than 0.01). When applied as diagnostic tests for the
stagnant loop syndrome, the
phenol excretion showed 2 false negative results, the
p-cresol excretion 3 false negative and 2 false positive results, and the
indican excretion 6 false positive results. The combined use of
phenol and
indican determinations eliminated the number of false positive results with the
indican test, and was found most useful as screening procedure. Determination of
phenol and
indican in a 24-hour urine sample is likely to provide a simple method for selecting patients with signs of abnormal bacterial colonization in the small intestine for more detailed investigations.