Appendectomy | A | 11 | 21 | 25 | | | | | | |
Colonoscopy | C | | | | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Sigmoidoscopy | S | | | | | | | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Number of patients with mucus depletion | A | 0 | 0 | 12 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
S | | | | | | | | 0 | 4 |
Mucus thickness | A | 131 (51) | 26 (29) | 7 (10)* | | | | | | |
| C | | | | 83 (49) | 54 (71) | 22 (21)‡ | 70 (46) | 42 (35) | 31 (39)NS |
| S | | | | | | | 56 (21) | 36 (17) | 27 (33)NS |
Percent of the epithelium covered with mucus | A | 87 (14) | 53 (23) | 6 (9)* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 58 (24) | 30 (26) | 16 (22)§ | 57 (26) | 31 (30) | 22 (25)¶ |
S | | | | | | | 49 (20) | 34 (24) | 17 (22)¶ |
Number (%) of patients with bacteria and leucocytes within mucus | A | 2 (18) | 21 (100) | 13 (100) | | | | | | |
C | | | | 2 (20) | 10 (100) | 6 (100) | 1 (10) | 9 (100) | 7 (100) |
S | | | | | | | 3 (30) | 10 (100) | 6 (100) |
Percentage of the mucus containing bacteria | A | 5–7 | 53 (37) | 94 (14)* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 5.3 (7) | 58 (24) | 53 (27) | 5 (3.3) | 41 (26) | 40 (30)* |
S | | | | | | | 1.2 (1) | 63 (36) | 51 (26) |
Percentage of the mucus containing leucocytes | A | <0.5 | 10 (15) | 78 (25) | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 7 (6) | 13 (6) | 0 | 3 (3) | 5 (3) |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 7 (5) | 9 (7) |
Mean concentrations of faecal bacteria ×1010/ml (SD) | A | 45 (17) | 8.1 (7.3) | 0.7 (1.5)* | | | | | | |
Mean concentrations of bacteria within mucus ×1010/ml (SD) | A | <0.005 | 4.8 (5) | 0.6 (1.2)* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0.03 (0.1) | 0.8 (1.1) | 0.1 (0.3) | 0.01 (0.03) | 1.1 (0.7) | 0.3 (0.5)* |
S | | | | | | | 0.01 (0.02) | 1.2 (0.9) | 0.2 (0.5) |
Number of patients with bacteria adherent to the epithelial surface | A | 0 | 14 | 18† | | | | | | |
C | | | | 1 | 4 | 6† | 1 | 6 | 8† |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 6 | 8 |
Percentage of the epithelium covered with adherent bacteria | A | 0 | 15 (21) | 47 (41*) | | | | | | |
| C | | | | 8 (3) | 21 (16) | 52 (31) | 4 (4) | 26 (17) | 45 (34)* |
| S | | | | | | | 1 (0.6) | 40 (30) | 44 (38) |
Number of patients with focal defects of the epithelial layer including | A | 0 | 21 | 25† | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 6 | 6† | 0 | 4 | 7† |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 5 | 6 |
Single epithelial cells invaded by bacteria | A | 0 | 13 | 5 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Patchy/aphthoid defects denuding submuosa | A | 0 | 10 | 15 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Spread epithelial surface damage/epithelial loss | A | 0 | 0 | 15 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0** |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0** |
Percentage of the intestinal lumen filled with leucocytes | A | 7 (3) | 64 (32) | 75 (32) | | | | | | |
C | | | | – | – | – | – | – | – |
S | | | | | | | | | |
Number of patients with leucocytes attached to the mucosa | A | 0 | 6 | 25* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 5 | 5† | 0 | 2 | 6† |
S | | | | | | | | 4 | 4 |
Percentage of the epithelial surface covered with attached leucocytes | A | <1 | 30 (24) | 72 (40)* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 2 (2) | 14 (9)† | 0 | 5–7 | 11 (3)† |
S | | | | | | | | 5 (3) | 2 (1) |
Number of patients with bacteria invading submucosa including: | A | 0 | 7 | 25* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4† |
S | | | | | | | | 1 | 3 |
Fissure | A | 0 | 4 | 11 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Diffuse infiltration of the mucosa | A | | 6 | 19 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | ** | ** | 0 | ** | ** |
S | | | | | | | 0 | ** | ** |
Microabscess | A | | 1 | 9 | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
S | | | | | | | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Percentage of tissue surface with bacterial invasion | A | 0 | 5 (6) | 31 (37)* | | | | | | |
C | | | | 0 | ** | ** | 0 | ** | ** |
S | | | | | | | 0 | ** | ** |