Published online Jun 14, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i22.4112
Peer-review started: February 6, 2017
First decision: March 16, 2017
Revised: March 24, 2017
Accepted: June 1, 2017
Article in press: June 1, 2017
Published online: June 14, 2017
Processing time: 137 Days and 12.3 Hours
To verify the utility of treatment with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
We searched EMBASE, Cochrane Library and PubMed in March, 2017. The reviewed literature was based on two systematic searches in each of the databases. The MeSH terms used were IBS and fecal microbiota transplantation and the abbreviations IBS and FMT. Reference lists from the articles were reviewed to identify additional pertinent articles.
A total of six conference abstracts, one case report, one letter to the editor, and one clinical review were included. In the final analysis, treatment of 48 patients was evaluated. Treatment revealed an improvement in 58% of cases. The varying structure of the nine included studies must be taken into consideration.
Data on FMT and IBS are too limited to draw sufficient conclusions. Standardized double blinded randomized clinical trials need to be carried out to evaluate the effect of FMT on IBS.
Core tip: In humans, the gastrointestinal tract represents a large microbial ecosystem, housing several trillion microbial cells named the gut microbiota. Recent advances in sequencing methods have increased our understanding of the role of the gut microbiota in health and disease. Worldwide, interest is growing rapidly for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as an “ecological” therapy for several diseases. Evidence suggests that a disturbance in the gut microbiota may be responsible for the initiation and persistence of symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. FMT could, therefore, be an ideal treatment option.