Stool transplant???

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We had a rep from our ID department come to a unit staff meeting to talk about infection control and she told us about a patient on another unit who was treated with antibiotics for C Diff for months unsucessfully. Finally they tried a "stool transplant," where a family member 'donated' a stool sample to transplant into the C Diff patient's lower GI tract to help restore the normal flora. Can you imagine? I never heard of such a thing :eek:

:eek: I thought I had heard it all... I think I want to puke
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Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
TraumaQueen said:
It's absolutely disgusting, and I think everyone was green and about to vomit afterward....

And the REALLY impressive part is, how gross does something have to be to gross out a nurse?!? :chuckle

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This is gross, but think about the chronic c-dif pt... How horrible for them.. we have a pt who's been on Flagy and Vanco, taken acidophilus, yeast supplements and we even tried macaroons. Every now and then it clears up for a while.. but we all know how bad things can get for a LTC resident. I've looked in to this before and found tons of support groups on line and in person groups for people with c diff. I guess people will try anything as a last resort. Again this is really gross and I would hurl if I had to help out in this procedure.

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Specializes in NICU- now learning OR!.
We had a rep from our ID department come to a unit staff meeting to talk about infection control and she told us about a patient on another unit who was treated with antibiotics for C Diff for months unsucessfully. Finally they tried a "stool transplant," where a family member 'donated' a stool sample to transplant into the C Diff patient's lower GI tract to help restore the normal flora. Can you imagine? I never heard of such a thing :eek:

Even though it sounds gross... we learned about this in Microbiology.

It should be a spouse that donates - someone living in the home. The explanation was: under specific circumstances where the patients normal flora is destroyed, they may have other health problems/concerns, and have chronic symptoms not controlled by normal measures (Ie: severe, chronic diarrhea, etc.)

Our normal flora helps us in so many ways.... the fastest way to repopulate is the "transplant" with the thought that a spouse (for example) would have the same/very similar flora due to the "intimate" nature of the relationship.

I guess this could only be used in certain instances, because if someones flora is "different" slightly than yours, I could see where that would worsen the problem.

HTH

Jenny

ADN Grad Dec. 2005

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

hmmmm...you can sell your plasma, right? Something like thirty $$ a whack.

see where I'm going with this? :rotfl:

reminds me of a park overseas in the early seventies ... all the hashish heads hung out there... hash used to be called "shyt"... take a leisurely stroll through said park on a lovely summer afternoon, and it never failed... sooner or later someone would approach you with "Hey, man ! Wanna buy some SH*T?"

Sooooooooo... wonder how much we could get for selling doo doo? :rolleyes:

'uhh... how'd you amass YOUR riches...?"

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:lol2: :lol2:

Sadie04 said:
We had a rep from our ID department come to a unit staff meeting to talk about infection control and she told us about a patient on another unit who was treated with antibiotics for C Diff for months unsucessfully. Finally they tried a "stool transplant," where a family member 'donated' a stool sample to transplant into the C Diff patient's lower GI tract to help restore the normal flora. Can you imagine? I never heard of such a thing :eek:
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Specializes in HIV/AIDS, Dementia, Psych.
jnette said:
Hmmmm...you can sell your plasma, right? Something like thirty $$ a whack.

See where I'm going with this? 

Reminds me of a park overseas in the early seventies ... all the hashish heads hung out there... hash used to be called "shyt"... take a leisurely stroll through said park on a lovely Summer afternoon, and it never failed... sooner or later someone would approach you with "Hey, man ! Wanna buy some SH*T?"

Sooooooooo... wonder how much we could get for selling doo doo? :rolleyes:

'uhh... how'd you amass YOUR riches...?"

?

...and eagleriver~ Why a relative? Would you want any old strangers poop in your colon?

Seriously, I read an article and it said that it should be a relative, preferably a spouse because the intimate nature of the relationship and tendency to eat the same foods, drink the same water...etc. causes your intestinal flora to be similar. So, I guess my hubby's good for something then huh? :chuckle

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Gives new meaning to the phrase "giving them ****"

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Actually makes a lot of sense and the thought does NOT gross me out, but there is the little fact that I manage an GI Endo lab!! ( :rotfl: :rotfl: LOL, LOL:roll )

Not something most of us feel comfortable thinking about doing but if the patient gets better then it would be worth it.

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UGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!! That's quite revolting! GRRRRROSSS!!! :uhoh3:

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eeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. ethical smethical, it's just not a nice thing to contemplate

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eagleriver said:
:lol2: :lol2:

From the review of the journal article cited:

Selection of the donor is of crucial importance to avoid infecting the recipient with a separate disease. The donor should be tested at least for HIV, hepatitis A, B, and C, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus, with stool negative for any detectable parasites or bacterial pathogens. In our experience, choosing the patient's partner offers a theoretical advantage that any transmissible disease would have been transmitted and emerged by now.

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