Anybody wanna poop transplant?

What is fecal transplant?

Your body has a lot of necessary (good) bacteria in its gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Fecal transplant involves taking stool from a healthy person and transferring it into a person suffering from a disease caused by reduced amounts of the necessary (good) bacteria. Fecal transplant is most commonly used as a treatment for a disease caused by overgrowth of a (bad) bacteria called Clostridium difficile (or C diff) when standard therapies have failed.

How does fecal transplant work?

Our GI tract contains thousands of different bacteria and other microorganisms which are essential to maintaining health. Antibiotics can disrupt these bacteria and allow disease-causing bacteria such as C diff to flourish. Fecal transplant involves transferring the necessary (good) microorganisms from a healthy donor into a patient with C diff infection. These bacteria then begin to grow in the patient’s colon and prevent C diff from overgrowing again.
How is the transplant performed?

Colleen Kelly, MD, gastroenterologist at the Center for Women’s Gastrointestinal Medicine at the Women’s Medicine Collaborative, introduces a solution of donor stool and saline into your GI tract during a colonoscopy. Other methods which have been successfully used elsewhere (and which may be considered in select patient cases) include fecal enemas and infusion through a nasogastric (nasal) tube into the upper part of your GI tract.

What is the success rate?

Controlled clinical research studies looking at fecal transplant success rates have yet to be completed, so we do not have that type of data. However, there are over 200 case reports in the world’s medical literature to date, reporting an overall success rate of 90 - 95%. Links to these publications are available for physicians or patients to review upon request. Kelly has treated more than 80 patients with relapsing C diff over the past four years and has had a similar success rate in her experience. ...