Prevention of infectious complications in surgical patients: potential role of probiotics.

Infectious complications in surgical patients often originate from the intestinal microflora. In the critically ill patient, small bowel motility is disturbed, leading to bacterial overgrowth and subsequent bacterial translocation due to dysfunction of the gut mucosal barrier. The optimal prophylactic strategy should act on all these factors, but such a strategy is not yet available. For several decades, antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent translocation of pathogenic bacteria has been studied with conflicting results. Selective decontamination of the digestive tract has shown good results, but fear for bacterial multiresistance has prevented worldwide implementation. In recent years, probiotics, living bacteria with a potential beneficial effect to their host, have shown promising results in several randomized placebo-controlled trials. Currently, in vitro and experimental research focuses on the effects of probiotics on the microflora responsible for gut-derived infections, structural mucosal barrier function and the immune system.