An overview of fecal microbiota transplantation: techniques, indications, and outcomes.

Fecal microbiota transplantation has emerged as a highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with very early experience to suggest that it also may play a role in treating other GI and non-GI diseases. Donor screening guidelines are now available along with recommendations regarding routes of administration, diluents, stool weights, and volumes of stool to be used. This review aims to provide an overview of fecal microbiota transplantation, to summarize the data on its efficacy, and to provide the reader with an understanding of how to perform this novel treatment. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) refers to infusion of a fecal suspension from a healthy individual into the GI tract of another person to cure a specific disease. FMT is by no means a new therapeutic modality; however, it did not receive public attention until recently, after several studies were published that showed stool is a biologically active, complex mixture of living organisms with great therapeutic potential for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and perhaps other GI and non-GI disorders. The revelations about the human microbiome that are being published by the Human Microbiome Project consortium are bringing the strength of science to clinical observation, thereby enhancing our understanding of just