Probiotics as Prophylaxis for Postoperative Infections of Under-five Children Following Gastrointestinal Surgery

PURPOSE: Evaluation of the efficacy of use of probiotics as prophylaxis for postoperative wound infection in under-five children following gastrointestinal surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This randomized control trial was conducted over a period of 2 years in the pediatric surgery units of a tertiary level hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 60 patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery under the age of 5 years were included in the study and randomly assigned to two groups – probiotics group (n = 30) and nonprobiotics group (n = 30). Patients in the probiotics group received probiotics in the preoperative (3 days) and postoperative period (7 days) along with traditional gut preparation (antibiotics and mechanical bowel wash). Patients in the nonprobiotic group got only antibiotics and traditional gut preparation. Outcome variables were surgical site infection, fever, c-reactive protein (CRP), total white blood cell (WBC) count, and neutrophil count. RESULTS: Postoperative wound infection was less in the probiotic group (n = 2) compared to the nonprobiotic group (n = 3), but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.640). Postoperative CRP level was significantly lower in the probiotics group (P = 0.020). There was more decline in total count of WBCs in postoperative period in the probiotic group. No statistical difference was seen between the groups in postoperative pyrexia, the total count of WBC, and neutrophil count. CONCLUSION: Use of probiotics along with traditional gut preparation as prophylaxis for postoperative infection in children showed no added benefit in comparison to the use of traditional gut preparation only.