HealthDay News — The vast majority of patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) recovered after receiving fecal transplantation via colonoscopy, study findings indicate.
Among patients who underwent the procedure, 89% of those infected with hypervirulent C. difficile type 027, and 100% of patients without the superbug, recovered during the first 12-weeks post transplantation, Eero Mattila, MD, of the Helsinki University Central Hospital and colleagues reported in Gastroenterology.
“Even though fecal transplantation is not simple to perform and has potential risks, fecal transplantation is an effective option for the treatment of recurrent CDI,” the researchers wrote.
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A total of 70 patients were included in the retrospective analysis. Thirty-six patients had recurrent CDI caused by C. difficile type 027, and 34 patients did not. All patients underwent a fecal transplantation procedure in which fresh donor feces were infused into the cecum via colonoscopy after whole-bowel lavage with polyethylene glycol.
Among the four non-responders in the C. difficile type 027 group, all had a preexisting serious condition and subsequently died of colitis, the researchers found. One year after transplantation, four patients relapsed after taking antibiotics for unrelated causes; two of these relapses were treated with a second fecal transplantation procedure and two with antibiotics for CDI. No immediate complications were associated fecal transplantation in this cohort.
