Supplementation With Lacobacillus Reuteri ATCC PTA 4659 in Patients Affected by Acute Uncomplicated Diverticulitis

Plain-language summary

Acute Uncomplicated Diverticulitis (AUD) is defined as inflammation of the colon diverticulum, often involving the colic wall and pericolic fat. In a double-blind RCT study, the investigators tested the efficacy of Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 4659 (L. reuteri), a specific strain with anti-inflammatory effect in association with conventional antibiotics, in treating AUD, compared with conventional antibiotic therapy plus placebo. A primary outcome was reduced abdominal pain and inflammatory markers (C-RP) in the group treated with L. reuteri compared with the placebo. A secondary outcome was reduced hours of hospitalization in the L. reuteri group. A double-blind, placebo RCT was conducted with 90 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of AUD treated at the Emergency Department of Foundation Poli-clinico A. Gemelli Hospital. Following a routine blood test and determination of C-reactive protein (C-RP) value, all patients were admitted to the Brief Observation Unit (BOU) and randomly as-signed to two groups: * Group A : Treated with ciprofloxacin 400 mg twice a day and metronidazole 500 mg three times a day for one week, plus supplementation with L. reuteri twice a day for 10 days. * Group B : Treated with the same antibiotic therapy as Group A for one week, plus placebo twice a day for 10 days. All patients completed a daily Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for abdominal pain, with a range from 0 (asymptomatic) to 10. C-RP value was determined again at 72 hours.

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