Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Is Safe and Effective in Patients With Clostridioides difficile Infection and Cirrhosis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS:

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) harms a large proportion of patients with cirrhosis. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is recommended for recurrent CDI, but its effects in patients with cirrhosis have not been established. We performed a multicenter observational study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of FMT for CDI in patients with cirrhosis.

METHODS:

We performed a retrospective study of 63 adults with cirrhosis (median model for end-stage liver disease score, 14.5; 24 patients with decompensated cirrhosis) who underwent FMT for CDI from January 2012 through November 2018 at 8 academic centers in the United States, Canada, and Italy. We collected data on patient demographics and characteristics of cirrhosis, CDI, and FMT from medical records and compared differences among patients with different severities of cirrhosis, and FMT successes vs failures at the 8-week follow-up evaluation. We also obtained data on adverse events (AEs) and severe AEs within 12 weeks of FMT.

RESULTS:

Patients underwent FMT for recurrent CDI (55 of 63; 87.3%), severe CDI (6 of 63; 9.5%), or fulminant CDI (2 of 63; 3.2%) primarily via colonoscopy (59 of 63; 93.7%) as outpatients (47 of 63; 76.8%). FMT success was achieved for 54 patients (85.7%). Among FMT failures, a higher proportion used non-CDI antibiotics at the time of FMT (44.4% vs 5.6%; P < .001), had Child-Pugh scores of B or C (100% vs 37.7%; P < .001), used probiotics (77.8% vs 24.1%; P = .003), had pseudomembranes (22.2% vs 0; P = .018), and underwent FMT as inpatients (45.5% vs 19%; P = .039), compared with FMT successes. In multivariable analysis, use of non-CDI antibiotics at the time of FMT (odds ratio, 17.43; 95% CI, 2.00-152.03; P = .01) and use of probiotics (odds ratio, 11.9; 95% CI, 1.81-78.3; P = .01) were associated with a greater risk of FMT failure. FMT-related AEs occurred in 33.3% of patients (21 of 63)-most were self-limited abdominal cramps or diarrhea. There were only 5 severe AEs that possibly were related to FMT; none involved infection or death.

CONCLUSIONS:

In a retrospective study, we found FMT to be safe and effective for the treatment of CDI in patients with cirrhosis.

• Authors: Yao-Wen Cheng, Dana Alhaffar, Srishti Saha, Sahil Khanna, Matthew Bohm, Emmalee Phelps, Marwan Ghabril, Eric Orman, Sagi Sashidhar, Nicholas Rogers, Huiping Xu, Alexander Khoruts, Byron Vaughn, Dina Kao, Karen Wong, Giovanni Cammarota, Gianluca Ianiro, Tanvi Dhere, Colleen S Kraft, Nirja Mehta, Michael H Woodworth, Jessica R Allegretti, Lotem Nativ, Jenna Marcus, Najwa El-Nachef, Monika Fischer
• Journal: Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol) Vol. 19 Issue 8 Pg. 1627-1634 (08 2021) ISSN: 1542-7714 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 32645451 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Observational Study, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2021 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Clostridioides
• Clostridioides difficile
• Clostridium Infections (therapy)
• End Stage Liver Disease
• Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (adverse effects)
• Humans
• Liver Cirrhosis (complications, therapy)
• Recurrence
• Retrospective Studies
• Severity of Illness Index
• Treatment Outcome