This evening I received an e-mail from the University of Texas-Houston stating they were beginning to start fecal transplants for c difficile and for patients that failed conventional IBD therapy. The study being performed will see whether it is better to have fresh stools or frozen stools when doing the fecal transplants. Patients for c difficile have to have had 3 or more recurrent infections while IBD patients have to have had conventional therapy fail.
Dr. Herbert DuPont is heading a large fecal transplant program in Houston. He is Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. According to PubMed as I write this he has over500 publications. He really seems to be an expert in c difficile and diarrhea. His curriculum vitae is 71 pages long (he is a busy guy).
This is great news at now it looks like the FDA will be backing off major regulations which will allow more people to get this relatively effective and safe procedure. It will be interesting to see how many IBD patients are treated and the results. Dr. Borody in Houston has had success treating IBD patients (more on the ulcerative colitis side). However from the studies I have seen Borody did enemas multiple times instead of doing the fecal transplant via colonscopy or through the nose. At any rate this is great news if more people now can be exposed to fecal transplant and get rid of the debilitating and crippling effects of c difficile.
If you are interested in this procedure you can contact Dr. Dupont with his info here
If you are interested in this procedure you can contact Dr. Dupont with his info here