Hypothesis Summary
There is evidence to suggest that the use of Exclusive Enteral Nutrition (EEN) may help improve surgical outcomes in Crohn’s disease, particularly regarding the length of bowel removed, stoma formation and post-operative complications. The need to confirm these findings in a larger and stronger study design was the basis for the development of the OCEaN trial. Mi-OCEaN is a sub-study for the OCEaN trial that will investigate the impact of EEN on microbiome composition and function in patients with Crohn’s disease who undergo surgery. Furthermore, this sub-study will aim to identify microbiome profiles that may be associated with better or poorer surgical outcomes.