Patients with heart valve diseases often have chronic cardiac insufficiency. Accumulating evidence supports a relationship between the complexity and diversity of the gut microbiota and heart failure. Bacterial colonization and translocation of their toxins to the bloodstream due to altered intestinal permeability are directly correlated with systemic inflammation. The activation of pro-inflammatory pathways and chronic inflammation was hypothesized as a major contributing factor in the pathogenicity and progression of heart failure (HF) Patients undergoing heart valve replacement with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) are always complicated with gastrointestinal tract ischemia-reperfusion injury, which usually leads to AGI. AGI is related to poor outcomes of critically ill patients through many underlying mechanisms. It can leads to infectious complications, multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS), and even death. On the other hand, the supply of probiotics, the good bacteria, is beneficial, despite still having a few controversial results. Therefore, it is important to carefully assess the efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of AGI and other complications in patients undergoing heart valve replacement surgery with CPB, as well as to evaluate the safety of its use.
Acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI) is related to poor outcomes in patients after heart valve replacement. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the probiotic mixture supplementation (PMS) in patients after heart valve replacement by preventing acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI).