Fecal bacteriotherapy
Encyclopedia : F : FE : FEC : Fecal bacteriotherapy
Fecal bacteriotherapy is an alternative treatment for patients with pseudomembranous colitis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
It has been developed in recent years by Dr. Thomas J. Borody and his team in Sydney, Australia, primarily as an alternative treatment for pseudomembranous colitis. This disease is caused by C. difficile infection, and is typically treated with antibiotics.
The hypothesis behind fecal bacteriotherapy is that inflammatory bowel disease may, like in the case of pseudomembranous colitis, be a previous infection by a still unknown pathogen which somehow damages the healthy bacterial flora of the colon, causing a bacterial imbalance, which then proceeds to reinfect and damage the colon in an endless cycle which can be broken by "recolonizing" the colon with bacteria from a healthy bowelBorody TJ, Warren EF, Leis SM, Surace R, Ashman O, Siarakas S., Bacteriotherapy Using Fecal Flora: Toying With Human Motions, J Clin Gastroenterol. 2004 Jul;38(6):475-483. [link]. This may be considered an extension of probiotic research.
The procedure itself involves a 5 day treatment with enemas, made of bacterial flora from feces of a healthy donor (who needs to be tested for a wide array of bacterial and parasitic agents). The enemas are prepared and administered in a hospital environment to ensure all necessary precautions. Regular checkups are required up to a year following the procedure.
While its effects on ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease have not yet been adequately researched, the procedure itself has been used to successfully cure C. difficile infections for a number of years, with a success rate of nearly 95% according to some sourcesSchwan A, Sjolin S, Trottestam U. "Relapsing Clostridium difficile enterocolitis cured by rectal infusion of homologous faeces", Lancet 1983;2(8354):845.Paterson DL, Irdell J, Whitby M. Putting back the bugs: Bacterial treatment relieves chronic diarrhoea. Med J Aust 1994;160:232-233.Borody TJ. "Flora Power"- Fecal bacteria cure chronic C. difficile diarrhea. Am J Gastroenterol 2000;95:3028-3029.. A recent article by Dr. Borody in which he details 6 cases of severe chronic ulcerative colitis treated using Fecal bacteriotherapy suggests that the procedure may be extremely successful in these cases as well, as most patients remained in symptom free remision following the treatment, some even 13 years to dateBorody TJ, Warren EF, Leis S, Surace R, Ashman O., Treatment of ulcerative colitis using fecal bacteriotherapy. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2003 Jul;37(1):42-7. [link]. The Sydney group also reports a case of presumed sclerosing cholangitis, a disease frequently associated with IBD, which recovered fully after the treatment.
See also
- Pseudomembranous colitis
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn's disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Helminthic therapy
External links
- [Center for Digestive Diseases, Sydney, Australia]
- [Treatment of ulcerative colitis using fecal bacteriotherapy]
- [Bacteriotherapy using fecal flora: toying with human motions]
- [Probiotic Therapy Research Centre, Sydney, Australia]
References
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.