Fecal Microbiota Transplant and Its Evolving Medical Uses

 Years later - my son's story.  Considered cured.   https://www.facebook.com/LetsTalkShitBook/posts/272711171304899

It's been a while since I posted about my son "Jake".  For those who haven't read his story, here is the link   http://www.fecalmicrobiotatransplant.com/2013/07/crohns-disease-fmt.html  . He has been off medication (Imuran) for nine months now and looks and feels well.  Unfortunately his cousin who was his donor became unsuitable to donate in mid August due to picking up a parasite, so Jake has gone since then without any FMT . Today he had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and we were thrilled with the news.  There is no sign of Crohn's Disease anywhere - not in his intestines, not in his terminal ileum and not in his duodenum!!! In fact, Professor Borody said there was no scarring or ulceration or any indication that the disease had ever existed.  It was all perfect, healthy and inflammation-free.  When he was first diagnosed with Crohn's three years ago it was very widespread.  I am sure that anyone ...

I have hesitated in sharing my son's story with Crohn's Disease and the success we have had with FMT (fecal microbiota transplantation) until now because I didn't want to do so prematurely. My son is 15 years old.  To protect his privacy, I will call him Jake, although that is not his real name :-). Jake was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a few days before his 13th birthday.  It was widespread ulceration, inflammation and infection throughout his duodenum, terminal ileum, ascending colon, descending colon and rectum.  It was a "gut-wrenching" time for me as a mother to an only child, especially after being told how very serious this disease is, how extensively he had it, that he would have it for the rest of his life, and probably do poorly in the long-term because he was so young at diagnosis.  I was worried sick with the long term consequences of my son taking immune-suppressive drugs (in his case, Imuran) - on the other hand I was terrified of the c...

I love the simplicity of this video in it's explanation of fecal microbiota transplant! Very worth watching!

I have received information from a Canadian man who's two young children have both been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease - they are currently being treated with an antibiotic regime that is working very well and will hopefully kill MAP (mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) which is the bacterium implicated for causing Crohn's Disease.  There has been much debate in the medical profession about the causation of Crohn's Disease (ie:  autoimmune disease vs bacterial origin (MAP being the main player).  I believe it's time to put the "autoimmune disease" theory to bed once and for all and so do many others.  Please click here  to read a brilliant article by Dr Judith Lipton who has been cured of Crohn's for 8 years as at the time of writing.  Then, if you are convinced, as I am that MAP causes Crohn's Disease in the majority of cases, come back here and click the link at the end of this post and d...

Is this the reason that people who consume a diet high in fibre from fruit and vegetables and a lower in animal fat and protein (both animal fat and protein diets attract bacteriodes ) have a lower incidence of colon cancer?  It would seem that it is every bit as important to provide the food for our microbiota to thrive on as it is to feed ourselves.  We and our microbiota would appear to benefit mutually from the same types of food - it's not just about nutrition, it's about feeding our "helpful friends" as well! The Differences in Colonic Mucosal Microbiota Between Normal Individual and Colon Cancer Patients by Polymerase Chain Reaction-denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis Authors: Huipeng, Wang MD; Lifeng, Gong MD; Chuang, Ge MD; Jiaying, Zhao MD; Yuankun, Cai MD Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the intestinal composition between normal individuals and colon cancer patients. ...

With World MS Day being 29th May, it seems appropriate to post a link to a previous entry about Multiple Sclerosis and Fecal Transplant. The link is to three case studies from Centre of Digestive Diseases, Sydney Australia (Professor Borody).   Three of his patients who had multiple sclerosis were treated for constipation (one of the many complications of this terrible disease) and to their's and Professor Borody's surprise, their MS symptoms unexpectedly also disappeared, so much so that as at the time of writing the study all patients remained in remission, one of them for 15 years!  Professor Borody speculates that a gut pathogen may be responsible for causing the neurological disease and encourages a new direction in medical research of MS. http://www.fecalmicrobiotatransplant.com/2012/08/could-multiple-sclerosis-be-caused-by.html

      This is a video which aired on TV - great news for pediatric (child) patients with c-diff    

This story comes from a mother who posted as a visitor on http://thepowerofpoo.blogspot.com.au/ - it's a very powerful story showing the tremendous results that FMT can give to a IBD sufferer (a child). It's definitely worth reading! Kathy's Success Story "Hi, I’m Kathy, mom to a nine-year-old girl diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in January 2012 and successfully treated with FMT. I don't want to know where we would be now if we hadn't tried it, or if it hadn’t worked. We went through seven months of hell trying to get her better before we started FMT. Here’s our story: E's symptoms appeared out-of-the blue. On Christmas Eve 2011, she called me into the bathroom to look at her wipe, which had some blood on it. Over the next few days, we noticed that her stool, though completely formed, had some visible blood coating the outside of it. I didn't make too much of it, which is surprising since I tend to be a bit of an alarmist when anyt...

Following the spectacular results of a randomised study publicised in last week's New England Medical Journal by van Nood et al. (The Netherlands), The Gastroenterological Society of Australia spokesperson, Associate Professor Jane Andrews has declared fecal microbiota transplantation to be "The Ultimate Probiotic".   "Fecal transplantation for recurrent C.difficile has now got very good evidence behind it" she remarked in the Australian "Gastroenterology update".  The Australian society has changed their previous view in which they had considered fecal transplant to be unsafe and warned against it's use, and are now looking at setting up a state-based service at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia next year.  The article stated that fecal microbiota transplantation had become mainstream in many centres (overseas).  This is very exciting news for those suffering from the incredibly debilitating and potentially deadly symptoms of cl...

The results of a randomized controlled study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week which showed a 94% cure rate for clostridium difficile as opposed to 31% of patients taking the antibiotic vancomycin. The study was stopped prematurely becase the results were so outstanding for those who were given fecal transplant that it was considered to be unethical not to offer the treatment to all patients participating in the study. Read more below courtesy of the New England Journal.nbsp;  Here is a link to the study: Duodenal Infusion of Donor Feces for Recurrent Clostridium difficile — NEJM and a link to the editorial written by Ciarán P. Kelly, M.D. Fecal Microbiota Transplantation — An Old Therapy Comes of Age — NEJM "Fecal Microbiota Transplantation — An Old Therapy Comes of Age Ciarán P. Kelly, M.D. January 16, 2013 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe1214816 In 1958, doctors in Denver administered feces by enema to their patients with fulminant, life-...

The excerpt of six case reports listed below come from the following medical publication.  Treatment of ulcerative colitis using fecal bacteriotherapy . These are examples of long term remission achieved by using fecal microbiota transplants to treat Ulcerative Colitis.  The report was published in 2003 - if you are interested in reading the report in more detail, please click the following link which will open up a new window at the site for the Centre For Digestive Diseases. Please note that HP in the case studies refers to "human probiotics" (or fecal microbiota transplantation) Treatment of ulcerative colitis using fecal bacteriotherapy. TJ Borody, EF Warren, S Leis, R Surace, O Ashman. J Clin Gastroenterol 2003; 37(1): 42-7. Patient 1 A 25-year-old man presented with a 6-year history of UC. He had experienced frequent blood in stools, diarrhea (6–7 motions per day), abdomin...

We are compiling a list of doctors and hospitals around the world who have performed fecal microbiota transplants - the list will grow as more doctors start to use this procedure on their ailing patients. We would love your help in compiling this list, so a comment with a name of a doctor/physician/medical professional and any information you can give would be very much appreciated! Please don't try this procedure without qualified medical guidance and advice. It is essential that fecal doners be screened for various diseases including some which are contageous. This is why a list of doctors who are familiar with the procedure is important, so that those of you who feel fecal microbiota transplantation could be beneficial to you can seek out appropriate medical advice. Doctors from around the world are listed below: Australia Professor Thomas Borody , Centre For Digestive Diseases Five Dock, Sydney USA Dr Lawrence J Brandt Montefi...

According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald , stool transplants (fecal microbiota transplantation) are being used increasingly in the USA to successfully combat the deadly C.diff.  Reminds me of how the evolution of fungi into penicillin has saved the lives of so many since it's introduction.  Antibiotics are powerful in their ability to kill bacteria, but the problem is that friendly bacteria are also killed.  Fecal transplant appears to restore the normal balance.  One wonders if down the track fecal transplant will be used in some modified way to negate these harmful effects of antibiotics. "Drugmakers racing to develop medicines and vaccines to combat a germ that ravages the gut and kills thousands have a new challenger: the human stool. For patients hit hardest by the bacterium Clostridium difficile, getting a "stool transplant" could become a standard treatment within just a few years. Just as blood banks and sperm banks are now commonpla...

TITLE: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) AUTHORS/INSTITUTIONS : T.J. Borody, S.M. Leis, J.L. Campbell, M. Torres, A. Nowak, , Centre for Digestive Diseases, Five Dock, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA; ABSTRACT BODY: Purpose: Recent evidence implicates the GI microbiota in the progression of neurological diseases such as Parkinsons Disease 1, Multiple Sclerosis and Myasthenia Gravis 2. We report three patients with MS diagnoses who achieved durable symptom reversal with FMT for constipation. Methods: Case study observations on three MS cases   Results: Case 1: A 30 yr old male with constipation, vertigo and impaired concentration and a concomitant history of MS and trigeminal neuralgia. Neurological symptoms included severe leg weakness and he required a wheelchair and an indwelling urinary catheter. Previous failed treatments included Mexiletine, Tryptanol and 9-interferon. The patient underwent 5 FMT i...