胃肠道（GI）手术后恢复常常会被无法预测的术后并发症所干扰，包括感染、吻合口破裂、GI运动障碍、营养吸收不良、癌症发展和癌症复发等，其中肠道微生物群落的意义开始显现。由于潜在疾病和其治疗，手术前肠道微生物群落可能已经失衡。肠道手术的直接准备，包括禁食、机械肠道清洁和抗生素干预，会破坏肠道微生物群落。肠道部位的外科切除也会通过肠道重建和上皮屏障破坏来扰乱肠道微生物群落。相应地，改变后的肠道微生物群落是术后并发症发生的一个贡献因素。因此，了解如何在围手术期期间平衡肠道微生物群落对外科医生非常重要。我们的目标是概述目前对恢复GI手术的肠道微生物群落作用的认识，重点关注肠道微生物群落与宿主在术后并发症发病中的相互作用。对于肠道微生物群落改变后肠道在术后的反应的全面理解，能够为外科医生提供有价值的线索，以保存肠道微生物群落的有益功能并抑制其不良影响，从而有助于增强GI手术的恢复。Copyright © 2023 Zheng，Hu，Tang，Xu，Zhu and Zhang。

Recovery from gastrointestinal (GI) surgery is often interrupted by the unpredictable occurrence of postoperative complications, including infections, anastomotic leak, GI dysmotility, malabsorption, cancer development, and cancer recurrence, in which the implication of gut microbiota is beginning to emerge. Gut microbiota can be imbalanced before surgery due to the underlying disease and its treatment. The immediate preparations for GI surgery, including fasting, mechanical bowel cleaning, and antibiotic intervention, disrupt gut microbiota. Surgical removal of GI segments also perturbs gut microbiota due to GI tract reconstruction and epithelial barrier destruction. In return, the altered gut microbiota contributes to the occurrence of postoperative complications. Therefore, understanding how to balance the gut microbiota during the perioperative period is important for surgeons. We aim to overview the current knowledge to investigate the role of gut microbiota in recovery from GI surgery, focusing on the crosstalk between gut microbiota and host in the pathogenesis of postoperative complications. A comprehensive understanding of the postoperative response of the GI tract to the altered gut microbiota provides valuable cues for surgeons to preserve the beneficial functions and suppress the adverse effects of gut microbiota, which will help to enhance recovery from GI surgery.Copyright © 2023 Zheng, Hu, Tang, Xu, Zhu and Zhang.