Friday, January 18, 2013
QD: News Every Day--Fecal transplants an easier treatment for difficile infections
Treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections with donor feces resulted in better treatment outcomes than vancomycin, particularly for patients with multiple relapses, a study found.
The study enrolled adults who had a relapse of C. difficile infection after at least one course of adequate antibiotic therapy, recurring diarrhea and a positive stool test for C. difficile toxin, from patients at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. Patients were randomly assigned in an open-label, controlled trial to receive donor feces, vancomycin or vancomycin and bowel lavage from January 2008 through April 2010.
Results appeared online Jan. 16 at the New England Journal of Medicine.
Although researchers originally intended to enroll 40 patients per study group, most patients in both control groups relapsed and a safety monitoring board recommended ending the trial.
Of 16 patients in the donor feces group, 13 (81%) were cured after the first infusion. Three remaining patients received a second fecal donation from a different donor. Two were subsequently cured, for an overall cure rate of 94%.
Resolution occurred in 4 of 13 patients (31%) in the vancomycin-alone group and in 3 of 13 patients (23%) in the vancomycin with bowel lavage group. The overall cure rate ratio of the fecal infusion patients was 3.05 as compared with vancomycin alone (99.9% confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 290.05) and 4.05 as compared with vancomycin with bowel lavage (99.9% CI, 1.21 to 290.12).
During follow-up, 14 cured patients reported diarrhea. The episodes were short and self-limited in 10 patients. Three other patients returned to their pre-infection baseline of at least three stools per day and had no clinical suspicion of recurrence. One patient who'd responded to treatment of vancomycin-only continued to have persistent diarrhea but with repeatedly negative toxin tests. Researchers maintained a clinical suspicion of recurrence.
Eighteen patients who had a relapse after initial antibiotic treatment received off-protocol donor-feces infusions; of these patients, 15 (83%) were cured. Eleven patients were cured after one fecal transplant, and 4 patients were cured after a second infusion.
Researchers wrote, "Although our study was designed for patients with any recurrence of C. difficile infection, only 8 of 43 patients were included after a first relapse, reflecting the reluctance of patients and physicians to choose donor-feces infusion at an early stage. The efficacy of antibiotic therapy decreases with subsequent recurrences, and it seems reasonable to initiate treatment with donor-feces infusion after the second or third relapse."
A review, published by Lawrence J. Brandt, MD, FACP, separately in the American Journal of Gastroenterology on Jan. 15, concluded that, "There is a conceptual sea change that is developing in our view of bacteria from their role only as pathogens to that of being critical to health maintenance in a changing world. Future studies are certain to narrow the spectrum of organisms that need to be given to patients to cure disease. FMT (fecal microbiota transplantation) is but the first step in this journey."
C. diff. recurs in 10–20% of patients after initial antibiotic therapy and up to 40–65% in patients who are retreated for a second episode, Dr. Brandt wrote. Fecal transplants likely correct the imbalance by restoring normal gut flora, compared to antibiotic treatment, "which, in a sense, perpetuates the very condition that lead to the initial episode of CDI (C. diff infection), namely an altered intestinal microbiome."
After outlining a step-by-step procedure, Dr. Brand outlines how many other conditions can be aided by fecal transplants. He writes, "I believe it also has a role as first-line treatment for patients with CDI rather than antibiotics because of its rapid effect, minimal risk, relatively low cost and reestablishment of a 'balanced' colonic microbiota.
"I, and others, also have used FMT to treat patients with severe CDI manifest by toxic megacolon or ileus and have seen the patient's, family's, gastroenterologist's, and even surgeon's relief as the patient's abdominal distention, fever and white blood cell count decreased, occasionally within hours of the procedure; in none of these cases was the patient's condition or course of disease worsened by FMT."
Labels: antibiotics, c-difficile, gastroenterology, infectious disease, QD, research
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
7:00 AM
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Members of the American College of Physicians contribute posts from their own sites to ACP Internistand ACP Hospitalist. Contributors include:
Albert Fuchs,
MD
Albert Fuchs, MD, FACP, graduated from the
University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he
also did his internal medicine training. Certified by the American
Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Fuchs spent three years as a
full-time faculty member at UCLA School of Medicine before opening
his private practice in Beverly Hills in 2000.
And Thus, It Begins
Amanda Xi, ACP Medical
Student Member, is a first-year medical student at the OUWB School
of Medicine, charter class of 2015, in Rochester, Mich., from which
she which chronicles her journey through medical training from day
1 of medical school.
Zackary Berger
Zackary Berger, MD, ACP Member, is a primary care doctor and
general internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine at
Johns Hopkins. His research interests include doctor-patient
communication, bioethics, and systematic reviews.
Controversies in Hospital
Infection Prevention
Run by three ACP
Fellows, this blog ponders vexing issues in infection prevention
and control, inside and outside the hospital. Daniel J Diekema, MD,
FACP, practices infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, and
hospital epidemiology in Iowa City, Iowa, splitting time between
seeing patients with infectious diseases, diagnosing infections in
the microbiology laboratory, and trying to prevent infections in
the hospital. Michael B. Edmond, MD, FACP, is a hospital
epidemiologist in Richmond, Va., with a focus on understanding why
infections occur in the hospital and ways to prevent these
infections, and sees patients in the inpatient and outpatient
settings. Eli N. Perencevich, MD, ACP Member, is an infectious
disease physician and epidemiologist in Iowa City, Iowa, who
studies methods to halt the spread of resistant bacteria in our
hospitals (including novel ways to get everyone to wash their
hands).
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, MD, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating
medicine and the health care system.
DrDialogue
Juliet K. Mavromatis, MD, FACP, provides a conversation about
health topics for patients and health professionals.
Dr. Mintz' Blog
Matthew Mintz, MD, FACP, has practiced internal medicine for more
than a decade and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at an
academic medical center on the East Coast. His time is split
between teaching medical students and residents, and caring for
patients.
Everything
Health
Toni Brayer, MD, FACP, blogs about the rapid changes in science,
medicine, health and healing in the 21st century.
FutureDocs
Vineet Arora, MD, FACP, is Associate Program Director for the
Internal Medicine Residency and Assistant Dean of Scholarship &
Discovery at the Pritzker School of Medicine for the University of
Chicago. Her education and research focus is on resident duty
hours, patient handoffs, medical professionalism, and quality of
hospital care. She is also an academic hospitalist.
Glass Hospital
John H. Schumann, MD, FACP, provides transparency on the workings
of medical practice and the complexities of hospital care,
illuminates the emotional and cognitive aspects of caregiving and
decision-making from the perspective of an active primary care
physician, and offers behind-the-scenes portraits of hospital
sanctums and the people who inhabit them.
Gut Check
Ryan Madanick, MD, ACP Member, is a gastroenterologist at the
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and the Program
Director for the GI & Hepatology Fellowship Program. He
specializes in diseases of the esophagus, with a strong interest in
the diagnosis and treatment of patients who have
difficult-to-manage esophageal problems such as refractory GERD,
heartburn, and chest pain.
I'm dok
Mike Aref, MD, PhD, FACP, is an academic hospitalist with an
interest in basic and clinical science and education, with
interests in noninvasive monitoring and diagnostic testing using
novel bedside imaging modalities, diagnostic reasoning, medical
informatics, new medical education modalities, pre-code/code
management, palliative care, patient-physician communication,
quality improvement, and quantitative biomedical imaging.
Informatics
Professor
William Hersh, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair, Department of Medical
Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health &
Science University, posts his thoughts on various topics related to
biomedical and health informatics.
David Katz, MD
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACP, is an internationally renowned
authority on nutrition, weight management, and the prevention of
chronic disease, and an internationally recognized leader in
integrative medicine and patient-centered care.
Just Oncology
Richard Just, MD, ACP Member, has 36 years in clinical practice of
hematology and medical oncology. His blog is a joint publication
with Gregg Masters, MPH.
KevinMD
Kevin Pho, MD, ACP Member, offers one of the Web's definitive sites
for influential health commentary.
MD
Whistleblower
Michael Kirsch, MD, FACP, addresses the joys and challenges of
medical practice, including controversies in the doctor-patient
relationship, medical ethics and measuring medical quality. When
he's not writing, he's performing colonoscopies.
Medical Lessons
Elaine Schattner, MD, FACP, shares her ideas on education, ethics
in medicine, health care news and culture. Her views on medicine
are informed by her past experiences in caring for patients, as a
researcher in cancer immunology, and as a patient who's had breast
cancer.
Mired in MedEd
Alexander M.
Djuricich, MD, FACP, is the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical
Education (CME), and a Program Director in Medicine-Pediatrics at
the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he
blogs about medical education.
More Musings
Rob Lamberts, MD, ACP Member, a med-peds and general practice
internist, returns with "volume 2" of his personal musings about
medicine, life, armadillos and Sasquatch at More Musings (of a
Distractible Kind).
Prescriptions
David M. Sack, MD, FACP, practices general gastroenterology at a
small community hospital in Connecticut. His blog is a series of
musings on medicine, medical care, the health care system and
medical ethics, in no particular order.
Reflections of a Grady
Doctor
Kimberly Manning, MD, FACP, reflects on the personal side of being
a doctor in a community hospital in Atlanta.
The Blog of Paul Sufka
Paul Sufka,
MD, ACP Member, is a board certified rheumatologist in St. Paul,
Minn. He was a chief resident in internal medicine with the
University of Minnesota and then completed his fellowship training
in rheumatology in June 2011 at the University of Minnesota
Department of Rheumatology. His interests include the use of
technology in medicine.
Technology in (Medical)
Education
Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, FACP, is interested in use of technology in
education, social media and networking, practice management and
evidence-based medicine tools, personal information and knowledge
management.
Peter A. Lipson,
MD
Peter A. Lipson, MD, ACP Member, is a practicing internist and
teaching physician in Southeast Michigan. The blog, which has been
around in various forms since 2007, offers musings on the
intersection of science, medicine, and culture.
Why is American Health Care So Expensive?
Janice
Boughton, MD, FACP, practiced internal medicine for 20 years before
adopting a career in hospital and primary care medicine as a locum
tenens physician. She lives in Idaho when not traveling.
World's Best Site
Daniel Ginsberg, MD,
FACP, is an internal medicine physician who has avidly applied
computers to medicine since 1986, when he first wrote medically
oriented computer programs. He is in practice in Tacoma,
Washington.
Other blogs of note:
American Journal of
Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine
publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in
internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and
community-based practice.
Clinical
Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, MD, ACP
Member, associate program director at New York University Medical
Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents
and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news,
commentary and more.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, MD, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so
he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the
Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news
of the day.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a
blog.
White Coat
Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by an emergency
room physician.
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