Are you passionate about the microbiota? If you'd like, you can participate in the first French fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) trial. initiated in the face of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common condition affecting 5 to 10% of the population, more frequently women – three women for every man (see the box below)
Constantly postponed since the Covid-19 pandemic, this highly anticipated TMF trial will finally begin before the end of 2025. This is an important step in research into a multifactorial pathology whose multiple causes remain poorly identified.
120 patients spread across ten centers
So here is the track microbiota which is followed, other mechanisms – intestinal hypersensitivity, disturbed digestive motility, abnormalities of intestinal permeability, disruption of the control of pain messages – are also involved in IBS. “ We will include 120 patients with severe forms, spread across ten centers in France., explains Professor Jean-Marc Sabaté, gastroenterologist (Avicenne Hospital, Bobigny) who will coordinate the study at the national level. Thirty-five of them are already on the waiting list, just for the Avicenna center."
The new study plans to compare two groups of patients, one of whom will receive oral FMT, or capsules made from frozen donor stool – the equivalent of about 25 grams of stool, or about 50 capsules in two doses over 24 hours – while the other will receive a placebo FMT.
Patients with severe forms of the syndrome
The study's positivity criteria will be based on questionnaires completed three months later to assess the effect of FMT on disease severity (which take into account the number of days spent without abdominal pain or bloating and any improvements in bowel movements – less diarrhea or constipation) and the impact of digestive disorders on quality of life. A decrease of 50 points on the severity score scale will be considered positive., specifies the specialist.
The inclusions will concern people aged 18 to 75, all of whom have failed at least two types of previous treatments, with a severe form (severity score greater than 300), and will start soon.
For the record, another research project made in France, the French Gut, is already underway and needs donors.
What is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?
Yesterday, we were talking about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), today it's called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In short, abdominal pain that has been present for at least six months and occurs at least once a week, digestive problems with diarrhea and/or constipation, bloating, discomfort... this is the daily life of the many patients affected by this condition, which is certainly benign but can significantly affect their quality of life.
As a reminder, there is currently no specific marker for this multifactorial disease, the diagnosis of which is most often made by questioning and does not require a colonoscopy before the age of 45. As for current treatments, they are varied and rely on drug treatments (there are around twenty different molecules) or not (hypnosis, CBT, emotion management, etc.). They are all the more effective when they are the subject of multidisciplinary management. sometimes combining therapeutic education sessionse, like those offered in some centers: Avicenne hospital (Bobigny), Édouard Herriot hospital (Lyon), hospitals in Nice, Rouen, Bordeaux.
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