Fecal Transplant Success Rate: How Well Does FMT Work to Cure Illness?

A Fecal Microbiota Transplant or “FMT,” is a medical procedure that takes stool from a healthy donor and implants it in the gut of a sick individual. A successful FMT is able to assist the weakened microbiome of a patient and treat the associated illness.

Fecal transplants treat many illnesses, which means they have varying rates of success. If you want to learn about the successes of FMT and what it treats, we’re going to break it down in the following sections:

• What is the fecal transplant success rate?
• Can fecal transplants save lives?
• What is a fecal transplant and how does FMT therapy work?
• Where to learn more about how FMT can cure illnesses

What is the fecal transplant success rate?

Fecal Microbiota Transplants (FMT) are used to treat a variety of conditions. In certain illnesses, FMT has been up to 90% effective in inducing remission. This number can vary depending on the conditions being treated and the health of the patient, so not all success rates are as high as 90%.

Here is the current available data on the fecal transplant success for the most common diseases and illnesses it is used to treat:

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Above are just a few examples of the illnesses FMT has been proven to effectively treat, though the full list of diseases fecal transplants can treat is much larger. The latest FMT studies have promising things to say about what the future holds for this treatment.

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Can fecal transplants save lives?

Fecal transplants are used as a life-saving treatment in the case of some diseases such as Clostridium Difficile. Many people using traditional treatment methods would have died without fecal transplants. However, fecal transplants are relatively new, and more study is required to quantify its effectiveness.

As the treatment develops and the specificity of FMT treatment methods improves, it might replace many traditional treatment methods for chronic illnesses that otherwise have no cure. The treatment is being studied to treat the following conditions.

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Clostridium Difficile Infection
• Colitis
• Crohn’s Disease
• Eczema
• Fibromyalgia
• IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
• Insulin Resistance
• Metabolic Syndrome
• Mood Disorders
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Obesity
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Psoriasis

What is a fecal transplant and how does FMT therapy work?

Fecal Microbiota Transplants (FMT) are a treatment wherein a stool sample from a healthy donor is implanted into the gut of an ill patient. The purpose of the treatment is to provide healthy and diverse bacteria to the gut microbiome of a patient who is lacking healthy diversity in their microbiome.

The theory behind the treatment is that by engrafting those with weakened microbiomes with more bacteria, that bacteria will be able to help reinvigorate their gut microbiome. By treating the microbiome, the hope is that the symptoms associated with microbiome-related illness will be gone.

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Where to learn more about how FMT can cure illnesses

These articles can give you more general information about stool transplants, to help you determine if if can help you with any of your health problems.

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Fecal Transplant Resources Guide: 40+ Articles, Podcasts, and Sites

Still curious about FMT and the microbiome? Learn more about how they work, what they are being used for, FMT clinics, the microbiome, where to get FMT news, and more.

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FMT: The Future of Medicine…Today?

Poop transplants are here, and they are here to stay. Learn more about the future of FMT in the medical field.

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Donor microbes persist two years after fecal transplant to treat C. difficile infection

A study out of the University of Alabama is the first to show persistence of microbes from fecal transplants in the guts of recipients years after the transplant was performed.

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