Zheng ZL, Zheng QF, Wang LQ, Liu Y. Bowel preparation before colonoscopy: Consequences, mechanisms, and treatment of intestinal dysbiosis. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(2): 100589 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i2.100589]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Qing-Fan Zheng, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology (Endoscopy Center), China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, No. 126 Sendai Street, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China. zhengqingfan@jlu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2025; 31(2): 100589 Published online Jan 14, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i2.100589
Bowel preparation before colonoscopy: Consequences, mechanisms, and treatment of intestinal dysbiosis
Ze-Long Zheng, Qing-Fan Zheng, Li-Qiang Wang, Yi Liu
Ze-Long Zheng, Qing-Fan Zheng, Li-Qiang Wang, Yi Liu, Department of Gastroenterology (Endoscopy Center), China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Zheng QF established the design of the review; Zheng ZL, Wang LQ, and Liu Y searched the literature and wrote the manuscript; All authors prepared the draft and approved the submitted version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qing-Fan Zheng, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology (Endoscopy Center), China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, No. 126 Sendai Street, Changchun 130033, Jilin Province, China. zhengqingfan@jlu.edu.cn
Received: September 25, 2024 Revised: October 22, 2024 Accepted: November 12, 2024 Published online: January 14, 2025 Processing time: 84 Days and 0.4 Hours
Abstract
The term “gut microbiota” primarily refers to the ecological community of various microorganisms in the gut, which constitutes the largest microbial community in the human body. Although adequate bowel preparation can improve the results of colonoscopy, it may interfere with the gut microbiota. Bowel preparation for colonoscopy can lead to transient changes in the gut microbiota, potentially affecting an individual’s health, especially in vulnerable populations, such as patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, measures such as oral probiotics may ameliorate these adverse effects. We focused on the bowel preparation-induced changes in the gut microbiota and host health status, hypothesized the factors influencing these changes, and attempted to identify measures that may reduce dysbiosis, thereby providing more information for individualized bowel preparation for colonoscopy in the future.
Core Tip: Bowel preparation for colonoscopy can disrupt the gut microbiota and impact health, particularly in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. This review aims to understand these changes and minimize dysbiosis. Strategies like administration of probiotics may mitigate these effects. Moreover, the existing literature suggests that children's gut microbiota may be more resilient to the disruptions caused by bowel preparation, and that using certain agents, such as sodium picosulfate for bowel cleansing, may reduce the extent of disruption of the gut microbiota.
