Fecal microbiota transplant from a rational stool donor improves hepatic encephalopathy: A randomized clinical trial

Recurrent hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a leading cause of readmission despite standard of care (SOC) associated with microbial dysbiosis. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) may improve dysbiosis; however, it has not been studied in HE. We aimed to define whether FMT using a rationally-derived stool donor is safe in recurrent HE compared to SOC alone. An open-label, randomized clinical trial with a 5 month follow-up in outpatient cirrhotic men with recurrent HE on SOC was conducted with 1:1 randomization. FMT-randomized patients received 5-days of broad-spectrum antibiotic pre-treatment then a single FMT enema from the same donor with the optimal microbiota deficient in HE. Follow-up occurred on days 5, 6, 12, 35 and 150 post-randomization. The primary outcome was safety of FMT compared to SOC using FMT-related serious adverse events (SAE). Secondary outcomes were AEs, cognition, microbiota and metabolomic changes. Participants in both arms were similar on all baseline criteria and were followed till study-end. FMT with antibiotic pre-treatment was well-tolerated. Eight (80%) SOC participants had a total of 11 SAE compared to two (20%) FMT participants with SAEs (both FMT-unrelated, p=0.02). Five SOC and no FMT participants developed further HE (p=0.03). Cognition improved in FMT, but not SOC group. MELD score transiently worsened post-antibiotics, but reverted to baseline post-FMT. Post-antibiotics, beneficial taxa and microbial diversity reduction occurred with Proteobacteria expansion. However, FMT increased diversity and beneficial taxa. SOC microbiota and MELD score remained similar throughout. Conclusions: FMT from a rationally selected donor reduced hospitalizations, improved cognition and dysbiosis in cirrhosis with recurrent HE. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.