Repeated Fecal Microbial Transplantations and Antibiotic Pre-Treatment Are Linked to Improved Clinical Response and Remission in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Pooled Proportion Meta-Analysis

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2021 papers

Abstract

The response of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) has been inconsistent possibly due to variable engraftment of donor microbiota. This failure to engraft has resulted in the use of several different strategies to attempt optimization of the recipient microbiota following FMT. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effects of two distinct microbial strategies-antibiotic pre-treatment and repeated FMT dosing-on IBD outcomes. A systematic literature review was designed and implemented in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A medical librarian conducted comprehensive searches in MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and Cochrane Library on 25 November 2019 and updated on 29 January 2021. Primary outcomes of interest included comparing relapse and remission rates in patients with IBD for a single FMT dose, repeated FMT dosages, and antibiotic pre-treatment groups. Twenty-eight articles (six randomized trials, 20 cohort trials, two case series) containing 976 patients were identified. Meta-analysis revealed that both repeated FMT and antibiotic pre-treatment strategies demonstrated improvements in pooled response and remission rates. These clinical improvements were associated with increases in fecal microbiota richness and α-diversity, as well as the enrichment of several short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing anaerobes including Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, Lachnospiraceae, Prevotella, Ruminococcus, and Clostridium related species.

Related Papers

• → Locating and Appraising Systematic Reviews(1997)160 cited
• → Cochrane Skin Group systematic reviews are more methodologically rigorous than other systematic reviews in dermatology(2006)74 cited
• → Systematic reviews are rarely used to contextualise new results—a systematic review and meta-analysis of meta-research studies(2022)19 cited
• → Effects of diet on the gut microbiome in patients with depression(2022)7 cited
• → Network Meta-Analysis of the Antihypertensive Effect of Traditional Chinese Exercises on Patients with Essential Hypertension(2022)6 cited