Children with Hirschsprung disease exhibited alterations in host-microbial co-metabolism after pull-through operation.

PURPOSE: This study aims to compare the fecal metabolome in post pull-through HD with and without HAEC patients and healthy young children using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. METHODS: Fresh fecal samples were collected from children under 5 years of age in both post-pull-through HD patients and healthy Thai children. A total of 20 fecal samples were then analyzed using NMR spectroscopy. RESULTS: Thirty-four metabolites identified among HD and healthy children younger than 5 years were compared. HD samples demonstrated a significant decrease in acetoin, phenylacetylglutamine, and N-acetylornithine (corrected p value = 0.01, 0.04, and 0.004, respectively). Succinate and xylose significantly decreased in HD with HAEC group compared to HD without HAEC group (corrected p value = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively). Moreover, glutamine and glutamate metabolism, and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism were the significant pathways involved, with pathway impact 0.42 and 0.50, respectively (corrected p value = 0.02 and 0.04, respectively). CONCLUSION: Differences in class, quantity, and metabolism of protein and other metabolites in young children with HD after pull-through operation were identified. Most of the associated metabolic pathways were correlated with the amino acids metabolism, which is required to maintain intestinal integrity and function.

A comparison of surgical site infections in children after stoma reversal between purse-string and linear closure.

BACKGROUND: To reduce the surgical site infections (SSI), the purse-string closure technique has been widely performed and has also been recommended in adult stoma reversal. However, for children, some debate still exists. This study aims to compare the SSI rates in children between the purse-string and the linear for the skin closure of stoma reversal. METHODS: The data were collected from pediatric patients, who had undergone either purse-string or linear closure for elective surgery of stoma reversal from two university hospitals between January 2016 and December 2019. RESULTS: The purse-string and linear closure had been performed on 31 and 45 patients, respectively. At 30 days after surgery, three patients in the purse-string closure group had developed SSI compared to 14 patients in the linear closure group (9.7 vs. 31.1%, p = 0.028). Furthermore, there had been no significant difference in the overall post-operative complications. In multivariate analysis, the SSI had been significantly lower in patients with purse-string closure (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.05-0.86, p = 0.029). CONCLUSION: By employing the purse-string closure technique for skin closure of stoma reversal, there had been a significantly lower SSI rate compared to linear closure with no difference in the length of hospital stay.