Enteral Probiotics Increase Short-Term Mortality in High-Risk Acute Pancreatitis Patients

Infection of necrotic pancreatic tissue is a potentially deadly complication of acute pancreatitis, and recent evidence indicates that systemic antibiotics are not effective preventive agents. Therefore, attention has turned to other possible preventive measures, including probiotics.

In a multicenter trial, Dutch researchers randomized 298 patients with first episodes of acute pancreatitis and risk factors for severe disease to receive probiotic bacteria or placebo, administered twice daily — initially by nasojejunal tube and then orally — for as long as 28 days. The probiotic agent was a mixture of six species that inhibit pathogens that are commonly cultured from necrotic pancreatitis infections in vitro and that never have been reported …