Improvement of Physical Symptoms and Psychological Changes by Fecal Microbiota Transplantation

Research Topic
Improvement of Physical Symptoms and Psychological Changes by Fecal Microbiota Transplantation

Lead Researcher
Hitomi Shirotani, Clinical Psychologist, Luke’s Ashiya Clinic

Center Co-Researcher
Toshio Kawai, Professor, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Collaborating Researcher
Masahiko Shirotani, Director, Luke’s Ashiya Clinic

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) is a treatment in which dissolved microorganisms (bacterial fluid) taken from the feces of healthy donors are transplanted into the patient’s gastrointestinal tract to try and treat disease.

A Dutch medical team reported in 2013 that the combination treatment group of FMT produced a significantly higher cure rate for refractory/recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) compared with the conventional treatment group that received oral vancomycin. This finding has attracted attention, and the current guidelines by Infectious Diseases Society of America strongly recommend FMT for recurrent CDI.

Because of its high therapeutic effect on CDI, FMT is currently being studied mainly in university hospitals in Japan for various diseases including intractable refractory inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis, as well as autoimmune disease and autism.

Since November 2017, our clinic has been providing FMT to patients with inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis, etc., by receiving the bacterial solution generated from the feces of donors from a  clinical research group for intestinal flora transplantation.

Patients who have received transplants have often reported not only improvements in physical disorders, but also psychological changes. For this reason, our clinic conducts drawing tests, listens to patient’s dreams and investigates physical indicators, such as improvement in symptoms and changes in gut microbiota balance, both before and after FMT. This study aims to examine whether FMT causes the improvement of physical symptoms and the psychological changes, by taking the changes in patients’ dreams and drawings into consideration.

2020/05/29