Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes of infection status, distribution characteristics of pathogens and peripheral blood cytokines in patients with gastrointestinal cancer after chemotherapy. METHODS A total of 226 patients with digestive tract cancer from Dec. 2015 to Jun. 2016 were chosen. The incidence of postoperative infection was analyzed. The risk factors of post-chemotherapy infection in patients with gastrointestinal cancer were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis. The pathogens of infection in patients were detected, and the levels of peripheral blood cytokines were observed and compared. RESULTS Totally 23 cases were infected in the 226 patients, and the infection rate was 10.18%. The infection sites of infected patients were mainly in respiratory system, digestive tract system and urinary system. Age, invasive operation, serum albumin, chemotherapy cycle, tumor stage, diabetes mellitus and hospitalization time were the independent risk factors of gastrointestinal cancer infection (P<0.05). There were 31 strains of pathogens in 23 cases of infection, among which, 20 strains were gram-negative bacteria, accounting for 64.52%, 9 strains were gram-positive bacteria, accounting for 29.03%, and 2 strains were fungi, accounting for 6.45%. The interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-12 (IL-12), interleukin-18(IL-18) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in the infected group were (99.02±38.33) ng/L, (96.12±40.42) ng/L, (134.35±43.12)ng/L, (253.89±50.11)ng/L and (24.03±7.28) ng/L, which were significantly higher than non-infected patients of (66.34±32.01) ng/L, (67.21±43.10)ng/L, (96.22±35.23) ng/L, (185.14±48.41) ng/L and (16.28±6.56)ng/L, and the differences were significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The infection of gastrointestinal cancer patients after chemotherapy should be paid attention. Gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogens causing infections. Age, invasive operation, serum albumin, chemotherapy cycle, tumor stage, diabetes mellitus and hospitalization time are the risk factors of infections in patients, and the level of peripheral blood cell inflammatory factors after infections in patients will significantly increase.