Published online Apr 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i13.2034
Peer-review started: December 13, 2022
First decision: January 11, 2023
Revised: January 21, 2023
Accepted: March 20, 2023
Article in press: March 20, 2023
Published online: April 7, 2023
Processing time: 114 Days and 21.2 Hours
Sepsis exacerbates intestinal microecological disorders leading to poor prognosis. Proper modalities of nutritional support can improve nutrition, immunity, and intestinal microecology.
To identify the optimal modality of early nutritional support for patients with sepsis from the perspective of intestinal microecology.
Thirty patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit of the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, China, between 2019 and 2021 with indications for nutritional support, were randomly assigned to one of three different modalities of nutritional support for a total of 5 d: Total enteral nutrition (TEN group), total parenteral nutrition (TPN group), and supplemental parenteral nutrition (SPN group). Blood and stool specimens were collected before and after nutritional support, and changes in gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and immune and nutritional indicators were detected and compared among the three groups.
In comparison with before nutritional support, the three groups after nutritional support presented: (1) Differences in the gut bacteria (Enterococcus increased in the TEN group, Campylobacter decreased in the TPN group, and Dialister decreased in the SPN group; all P < 0.05); (2) different trends in SCFAs (the TEN group showed improvement except for Caproic acid, the TPN group showed improvement only for acetic and propionic acid, and the SPN group showed a decreasing trend); (3) significant improvement of the nutritional and immunological indicators in the TEN and SPN groups, while only immunoglobulin G improved in the TPN group (all P < 0.05); and (4) a significant correlation was found between the gut bacteria, SCFAs, and nutritional and immunological indicators (all P < 0.05).
TEN is recommended as the preferred mode of early nutritional support in sepsis based on clinical nutritional and immunological indicators, as well as changes in intestinal microecology.
Core Tip: Nutritional support is an important component of treatment for sepsis, and an appropriate modality of nutritional support can improve patient nutrition, immunity, and intestinal microecology. We applied different nutritional modalities for early and short-duration nutritional support in patients with sepsis and found differences in intestinal bacterial composition, short-chain fatty acids, and nutritional and immune indicators. We concluded that total enteral nutrition is a good modality of early nutritional support for sepsis. These findings provide a new perspective for optimizing nutritional support modalities in sepsis.