Pediatr Gastroenterol Hepatol Nutr.  2025 Jan;28(1):54-66. 10.5223/pghn.2025.28.1.54.

Impact of a New Preoperative Immune-Nutrition Protocol Using Zinc on Hospital Outcomes of Children with Hirschsprung’s Disease: A Novel Randomized Controlled Trial

• Ibrahim HAA
• Kaddah S
• Mohamed RMEH
• Khedr S

• KMID: 2564781
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5223/pghn.2025.28.1.54

Abstract

Purpose
Research proved the beneficial effect of Zinc on human health and Gastrointestinal tract inflammatory diseases. We propose that zinc would be of value in children with Hirschsprung’s disease (HD) undergoing elective pull-through surgery. This study was carried out to determine the influence of preoperative zinc intake on postoperative outcomes, especially the hospital length of stay in patients diagnosed with HD as a primary outcome. Other outcomes include identification of the nutritional and inflammatory status including the nutritional and inflammatory markers in children with HD with possible impacts on hospital outcomes.
Methods
This is a randomized interventional control study that was applied to 50 children diagnosed with HD who underwent elective pull-through surgery. We randomly allocated 25 diagnosed with HD who underwent elective pull-through surgery. We randomly allocated 25 patients to zinc treatment.
Results
The results demonstrated that the interventional group had a lower incidence of complications (20%) when compared to the control group (64%), with a significant p-value of 0.002. In addition, less incidence of Hirschsprung’s associated enterocolitis (HAEC) (12% vs. 40%) and skin excoriation (8% vs. 32%) were documented in the interventional group compared to the controls respectively.
Conclusion
Pre-operative zinc supplementation may have a beneficial impact on HD children undergoing elective pull-through surgery as regards outcomes such as HAEC and skin excoriation.

Keyword

Hirschsprung disease; Enterocolitis; Zinc; Child