Report / Paper metadata
Fecal filtrate transplantation as salvage therapy for fulminant Clostridioides difficile infection in adult hematological patients during chemotherapy-induced aplasia: a pilot experience.
Three severely ill patients received faecal filtrate transplantation in a pilot case series. All had resolution of the reported intestinal infection by day fourteen, but one died from a different septic infection by day thirty. The series is too small and uncontrolled to establish treatment effectiveness or safety.
Who was included?
This single-centre prospective case series involved three adults with acute myeloid leukaemia, chemotherapy-related grade-four aplasia and fulminant Clostridioides difficile infection. Their illness had persisted despite the antibiotic regimen described in the abstract. This is a highly specific clinical setting, not a general population with diarrhoea.
What outcomes were reported?
All three patients had clinical resolution of the intestinal infection by fourteen days after treatment. At thirty days, two remained in remission while one had died from Pseudomonas aeruginosa septic shock. Resolution of one infection and overall survival are different outcomes; they should not be collapsed into a single success rate.
What can a case series show?
The report describes an initial experience with no immediate procedure-related complications or adverse events attributed to the treatment. Without a control group, it cannot separate the contribution of the experimental treatment from other care or changes in the illness. Three observations cannot rule out uncommon harms.
What did the biological analysis find?
The researchers observed different microbiome and phage responses among patients. They did not find clear evidence that donor-derived phages had a general role in resolving the infection. A possible role for recipient-associated prophages remains a proposed mechanism rather than proof of how the clinical changes occurred.
How should this be used?
This is an abstract-based explanation of a pilot study, not a treatment protocol or an instruction to prepare or administer a transplant. Full methods, donor screening, safety oversight and clinical context would be needed to judge the intervention. The reported feasibility does not make it established care.
- Journal
- Gut microbes
- Kind
- Paper metadata
- Identifier
- PMID 42635401