Probiotic supplementation in neonates with congenital gastrointestinal surgical conditions: a pilot randomised controlled trial

Study answer

What this study found

Daily probiotic supplementation attenuated postoperative gut dysbiosis in these neonates and appeared safe. At T3, the sum of potentially pathogenic bacterial families was lower with probiotic use, 50.4 (IQR 26.6-67.6) versus 67.1 (IQR 50.9-96.2) with placebo (p = 0.04), while Bifidobacteriaceae abundance was much higher, 39.8 (IQR 24.9-52.1) versus 0.03 (IQR 0.02-2.1) (p < 0.001). Actinobacteria abundance was also higher, 40.1% versus 0.1% (p < 0.0001), and total stool SCFAs were higher at T3 (p = 0.008). No probiotic-related infections occurred, but there were no significant differences in…

Study & population

Pilot randomized controlled trial in term and near-term neonates with congenital gastrointestinal surgical conditions after surgery in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Intervention

The active intervention was a daily probiotic sachet containing Bifidobacterium breve M-16V, Bifidobacterium longum subsp.

Key limitation

This was a small pilot trial with a single-center neonatal surgical population and mixed underlying gastrointestinal diagnoses, which limits generalizability.

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Original abstract