Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Jun 5, 2026; 17(2): 118784
Published online Jun 5, 2026. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v17.i2.118784
Published online Jun 5, 2026. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v17.i2.118784
Frequency and predictors of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in acute pancreatitis
Chidanand Kumbar, Venkatesh Vaithiyam, Ravi Teja Reddy, Kartik Mehta, Aarushi Ahuja, Ajay Kumar, Ashok Dalal, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Department of Gastroenterology, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, New Delhi 110002, Delhi, India
Co-first authors: Chidanand Kumbar and Venkatesh Vaithiyam.
Author contributions: Vaithiyam V and Kumbar C contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors. Vaithiyam V, Kumbar C, and Sachdeva S contributed to conceptualization, writing, reviewing, and editing; Kumbar C, Vaithiyam V, and Reddy RT wrote the original draft; Kumbar C, Vaithiyam V, and Reddy RT participated in data acquisition and drafting the manuscript; Dalal A, Kumar A, Ahuja A, Mehta K, and Kumbar C participated in data interpretation and critical revision of the manuscript; Vaithiyam V and Sachdeva S performed the final review of the manuscript, and all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee of Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. The ethical clearance document number is No. F.1/IEC/MAMC/94/06/2022/No. 484.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: De-identified participant data stored in the Department of Gastroenterology, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, will be made available by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Sanjeev Sachdeva, MD, Head, Professor, Department of Gastro
Received: January 12, 2026
Revised: February 2, 2026
Accepted: March 5, 2026
Published online: June 5, 2026
Processing time: 136 Days and 20.2 Hours
Revised: February 2, 2026
Accepted: March 5, 2026
Published online: June 5, 2026
Processing time: 136 Days and 20.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is an under-recognized disease entity in acute pancreatitis (AP). In this case-control study, SIBO was significantly more prevalent among patients with AP than among healthy controls, with a strong graded association with disease severity. SIBO was more common in those with systemic inflammatory response, ileus, and pancreatic necrosis. The predominant methane-producer status was more frequent in patients with AP than in healthy controls. These findings reinforce the clinical relevance of small intestinal dysbiosis in AP and provide a therapeutic window for early management to decrease the morbidity and mortality.