Abstract

Background & aims: To assess the effects of pro-/synbiotic treatment on patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), a systematic review was conducted on randomized controlled trials. Methods: International databanks (ISI Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar) were searched from January 2007 to December 2017 using the following keywords: ‘colorectal cancer’ and ‘probiotics’. The search was restricted to original articles published in English. Reference lists of all related studies were also reviewed to find other relevant publications. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 18.0 (IBM, NY, USA). Also, p < .05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results: A total of 21 clinical trials were retrieved, involving 1831 patients subjected to elective colorectal surgery. The studies included in this review have investigated the effects of probiotics on different aspects of colorectal cancer treatment (p < .05). According to the present study results, probiotics could significantly decrease inflammatory factors, chemotherapy side effects, severe diarrhea, postoperative infectious complications, and duration of antibiotic therapy; shift fecal microbiota in favor of Actinobacteria; and change the tumor tissue microbiota (p < .05). Conclusion: Based on the present review, the preoperative use of pro-/synbiotics as prophylaxis for patients with CRC could improve clinical outcomes. More detailed data about the types of probiotic species and the optimal consumption dose of pro-/synbiotics should be taken in to account in future meta-analysis reviews. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism