Reply to Can Fecal Microbial Transplant Effectively Treat Crohn's Disease?

Abstract

Article first published online 29 April 2015.

Reply:

I sincerely appreciate the interest of Drs. Dai, Jiang, and Sun in our article and thank them for their comments on fecal microbial transplant (FMT) as a potential therapy for Crohn's disease (CD).

As they note, there are many questions that still require answers before FMT becomes a feasible treatment option in CD. As with any therapeutic agent, efficacy needs to be proven. To do this, optimal dosage, frequency, and route need to be determined. Because no two FMTs are the same, FMT has an additional barrier to overcome, which is to understand and determine how the donor bacterial species of the feces can be optimized for an individual recipient's fecal microbiome. In addition, potential infectious and noninfectious complications need to be further evaluated and risk–benefit of FMT needs to be better understood. As researchers and physicians, we appreciate that no single study can fully assess the efficacy and risk of a therapeutic agent for the treatment of a complex disease, such as CD. Our study, in conjunction with others, will begin the process of chipping away at many unanswered questions that still revolve around the potential therapeutics of FMT in CD.