Systematic review with meta-analysis: review of donor features, procedures and outcomes in 168 clinical studies of faecal microbiota transplantation

Abstract

Background: Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is effective for Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) refractory to standard treatment and is being studied in other diseases. Aim: To evaluate donor characteristics, procedures and clinical outcomes of FMT. Methods: We systematically reviewed FMT studies published up to 29 August 2018 using MEDLINE (R) and EMBASE and identified clinical studies with FMT donor information. We reported data on donor characteristics, screening criteria, administration, clinical outcomes and adverse events. Results: Among 5267 reports, 239 full-text articles were screened and 168 articles were included. FMT was performed commonly for CDI (n = 108) and inflam..