Eficacia de la Pentoxifilina versus los probióticos en el manejo coadyuvante de la sepsis neonatal: Revisión sistemática

Abstract

Title: Neonatal sepsis is a severe infection that causes a generalized inflammatory response, with a risk of multiorgan failure and death, which has motivated the use of adjuvant treatments to improve its management. Objective: To determine the efficacy of pentoxifylline versus probiotics in the adjuvant management of neonatal sepsis. Methodology: It was conducted through a systematic review based on the PRISMA 2020 statement guidelines. Open-access articles of research conducted on humans and published in the last five years were included. A search was performed in four scientific databases: PubMed, Taylor & Francis, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Nine studies were selected, of which two were clinical trials, four cross-sectional studies, one case report, and two cohort studies. The risk of bias was assessed using the RoB-2 and JBI tools. Results: Both drugs are effective for neonatal sepsis. Probiotics have been linked to a lower incidence of severe gastrointestinal complications, while pentoxifylline has shown positive effects on clinical and biochemical indicators. Discussion: Both treatments show a good safety profile and complementary usefulness; however, probiotics are more preventive, while pentoxifylline is more therapeutic. Conclusions: Probiotics have shown an important role in reducing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis and late sepsis, while pentoxifylline is usually more useful once the septic condition is established by modulating the systemic inflammatory response. Therefore, it would be advisable to develop new research to evaluate their relative effectiveness.