Post-Surgical Gut Microbiota Alterations in Pediatric Patients with Intestinal Disorders

TL;DR

This review explores how surgery affects gut microbes in children with intestinal disorders and highlights the need for more research on how these changes impact recovery and complications.

Contribution

The paper emphasizes the lack of pediatric-specific data on gut microbiota changes after surgery and identifies a need for GM-targeted therapies in children.

Findings

Surgical interventions alter gut microbiota diversity and structure in children.

Post-surgical complications like infections and anastomotic leaks are linked to GM dysbiosis.

There is a critical gap in understanding pediatric-specific GM alterations after surgery.

Abstract

This detailed narrative review focuses on the current understanding of unique alterations in GM colonization and subsequent complications following surgery for significant childhood conditions, such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), Hirschsprung’s disease (HD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and short bowel syndrome (SBS). Surgical interventions can alter the diversity and structure of the GM and potentially cause post-surgical complications. Although the data are well-established in adults, there is a lack of pediatric-specific data on post-surgical GM dysbiosis and its complications, including surgical infections, intestinal obstructions (IO), and anastomotic leak (AL). This gap constitutes both a clinical risk and an important therapeutic opportunity. Therefore, research on how to modulate the GM perioperatively in children is needed. Current research provides an initial understanding of the possible post-surgical implications for outcomes of these intestinal disorders. Future studies could clarify GM alterations associated with various pediatric intestinal surgical procedures and their complications, which may influence the evaluation of GM-targeted treatments.

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