VANCOUVER, Canada — Intestinal microbiota transplant (IMT), also commonly referred to as fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), significantly improves clinical response and clinical remission among people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared with standard treatment, a meta-analysis reveals.
"But there was no statistical improvement in endoscopic remission, which is — at the end of the day — the goal for all of us," said Ifrah Fatima, MD, an internal medicine resident at University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.
Dr Ifrah Fatima
The belief is that people with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease could benefit from IMT if it restores the balance of bacteria making up the gut microbiome, said Fatima, when presenting the findings during a poster session at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting.
Fatima and colleagues searched standard medical publication databases and identified 10 randomized control trials where investigators compared IMT with standard IBD care. Most participants — 83% — had ulcerative colitis and 17% had Crohn’s disease. The mean age was 39 years for the combined IMT groups vs 35 years in the combined control groups.
People receiving IMT were about 2.5 times more likely to achieve clinical remission than people in the standard care group (odds ratio [OR], 2.47; 95% CI, 1.57-3.88;
