D-lactic acidosis in short-bowel syndrome managed with antibiotics and probiotics

J Pediatr Surg. 2004 Apr;39(4):634-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2003.12.026.

Abstract

D-lactic acidosis sometimes occurs in malabsorbed patients with short-bowel syndrome and is characterized by recurrent episodes of encephalopathy and metabolic acidosis. The characteristic neurologic abnormalities and the presence of metabolic acidosis raises a diagnostic suspicion, and the diagnosis is made when the serum level of D-lactic acid is greater than 3 mmol/L. Standard treatment consists of restricting oral carbohydrates or fasting, correction of metabolic acidosis, and a long-term suppression of pathogenic floras with antibiotics. The authors present a case of D-lactic acidosis in a 22-year-old patient with short-bowel syndrome, to whom intestinal bacterial agents (probiotics) were given in addition to oral kanamycin. Recolonization of the intestine with nonpathogenic floras should be a long-term treatment for D-lactic acidosis.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Acidosis, Lactic / diagnosis
  • Acidosis, Lactic / drug therapy
  • Acidosis, Lactic / etiology*
  • Acidosis, Lactic / therapy
  • Adult
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Bifidobacterium
  • Consciousness Disorders / etiology
  • Dysarthria / etiology
  • Gait Disorders, Neurologic / etiology
  • Humans
  • Kanamycin / therapeutic use*
  • Lacticaseibacillus casei
  • Male
  • Probiotics / therapeutic use*
  • Short Bowel Syndrome / complications*
  • Short Bowel Syndrome / microbiology

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Kanamycin