Gut microbiota are perturbed in patients pre- Whipple surgery and partly normalized after the treatment

: A total of 3, 338, 623 high-quality sequences were produced, with an average of 34068 sequences per sample. Based on gene relative abundance profile, 808 Operational taxonomic Units (OTUs) were identified. Compared to healthy controls and patients after Whipple surgery, the diversity of gut microbiota were lower in patients with pre- Whipple surgery. Compared to healthy controls, gut microbiota of patients with pre- Whipple surgery were characterized by a reduction of butyrate-producing bacteria including Lachnospira and Roseburia and probiotics like Bifidobacterium, as well as an increase of opportunistic pathogen such as Odoribacter, which indicated that fecal microbial dysbiosis was closely associated with the diseases of pre- Whipple surgery such as pancreatic head and periampullary cancers. Moreover, Whipple surgery was contributed to a partly normalized gut microbiota, with an increase in butyrate-producing bacteria such as Lachnospira and Roseburia and a decrease in opportunistic pathogen like Prevotella, as well as the normalization of gut microbial diversity.