Sunday, July 7, 2013

The donor perspective

Today's New York Times has an interesting essay on fecal transplantation with an interesting twist: it's written by a stool donor. The recipient has inflammatory bowel disease. While there is not much evidence regarding fecal transplant for inflammatory bowel disease at this point, there is growing interest. When one compares the safety profile of fecal transplant versus those of highly immunosuppressive therapies for IBD, it's easy to see why many patients might be willing to pursue fecal transplant. I recently spoke to an internist at an academic medical center, who told me that several of his gastroenterology colleagues are informally recommending to patients that fecal transplant may be worth pursuing for IBD. Oh, the power of poo...

 Graphic: Katie Scott, New York Times
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2 comments:

  1. neldridge202July 20, 2013 at 2:45 PM

    As someone who had his colon surgically removed many years ago, in order not to die from Ulcerative Colitis, it makes me sad and angry to think that the FDA is preventing this harmless treatment - that seems to work for some people - on the the premise that feces is a drug.

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  2. Mike EdmondJuly 21, 2013 at 11:12 AM

    I saw a patient this week with ulcerative colitis who asked me if the only option left for treatment of the UC were remicade would I try fecal transplantation. And I had to honestly answer yes.

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