A study in Clinical Infectious Diseases investigated whether fecal transplantation is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.
The researchers — led by Susy S. Hota, MD, of University Health Network and University of Toronto, both located in Toronto, Canada — identified 30 adult patients experiencing acute recurrence of CDI. Half of these patient received 14 days of oral vancomycin followed by a single fecal transplantation by enema, while the other half received 14 days of oral vancomycin followed by standard six-week oral vancomycin taper.
Here's what you need to know:
1. A proportion of patients from both the fecal transplantation (56.2 percent) and vancomycin taper (41.7 percent) experienced recurrence of CDI.
2. When the researchers conducted microbiota analysis of three successful fecal transplant recipients, they found increased diversity in the participants' samples; however, a "futility analysis did not support continuing the study."
3. Thus, since recurrence was similar in both groups, the study was discontinued at its interim analysis.
"In patients experiencing an acute episode of recurrent CDI, a single FT by enema was not significantly different from oral vancomycin taper in reducing recurrent CDI," the researchers concluded. "Further research is needed to explore optimal donor selection, FT preparation, route, timing and number of administrations."