Professor of Medicine and Anesthesiology Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston Salem, North Carolina
Disclosure(s):
Ryan Maves, MD, FCCM: AiCuris: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing); GeoVax: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing); Shionogi: Advisory Board (Ongoing); Sound Pharmaceuticals: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing); Trauma Insights, LLC: Consultant (Terminated, July 20, 2023)
The gut microbiome regulates a number of homeostatic mechanisms in the healthy host including immune function and gut barrier protection. Loss of normal gut microbial structure and function has been associated with diseases as diverse as Clostridioides difficile infection, asthma, and epilepsy. This session will focus on three key areas of the link between the gut microbiome and sepsis. Before sepsis onset, gut microbiome alteration increases sepsis susceptibility through several mechanisms, including allowing for expansion of pathogenic intestinal bacteria, priming the immune system for a robust proinflammatory response, and decreasing production of beneficial microbial products such as short-chain fatty acids. Once sepsis is established, gut microbiome disruption worsens and increases susceptibility to end-organ dysfunction. There is limited evidence that microbiome-based therapeutics, including probiotics and selective digestive decontamination, may decrease sepsis risk and improve sepsis outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
Describe how the gut microbiome may become altered before sepsis develops to the point where it may increase susceptibility to severe sepsis
Examine the pathophysiology behind the dysfunction of gut microbiome disruption that increases susceptibility to end-organ dysfunction and worsens sepsis outcomes
Identify microbiome-based therapeutics, including probiotics and selective digestive decontamination, that may decrease sepsis risk and improve sepsis outcomes
