Donor Feces for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection

A randomized study was halted when feces infusion proved more effective than treatment with vancomycin.

Recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is common, and no effective treatment is available for such episodes. Fecal transplantation has gathered interest as a possible alternative to antibiotics, but experience with it is still limited.

Now, in an open-label, controlled trial involving adults in the Netherlands with recurrent CDI, researchers have examined the efficacy this procedure. Patients were randomized to one of three treatments:

Oral vancomycin for 4 or 5 days, followed by bowel lavage and subsequent infusion of donor feces through a nasoduodenal tube
Oral vancomycin for 14 days (standard therapy)
Oral vancomycin for 14 days with bowel lavage

The primary endpoint was cure (i.e., resolution of CDI-related diarrhea and three co…

Reviewing Author

Larry M. Baddour, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc. (Authorship duties)

Larry M. Baddour, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc. (Authorship duties)