Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Mid-Week Links Part II: Probotics Don't Help Crohn's, Fecal Transplant Cures 97% of C Diff, Pill Camera Approved For Crohn's

Probiotics Doesn't Help Flares For Crohn's
     This study showed that taking probiotics doesn't help Crohn's patients. 47% of the people who took probiotics had relapsed while 53% of the patients in the placebo group relapsed. Really there was no statistical difference between the two groups.

 Fecal Transplant at Mayo: 97% Effective in C Difficile
    This study out of the Arizona Mayo Clinic (they have branches all over the United States) showed that 97% of patients who received a fecal transplant got rid of their c difficile. A majority of patients noticed an improvement in 3 days. The study was only done on 31 patients however this is another data point showing fecal transplants are effective! Hopefully, we can see in the future if fecal transplants can help things like ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, obesity, and maybe even depression.

Pill Camera Approved For Crohn's
     The FDA cleared the PillCamera SB 3 for Crohn's disease and anemia. I believe the SB stands for small bowel. What is interesting is that 75% of Crohn's patients have lesions in their small bowel. What is even more interesting is that after 3 months of using the camera 62% of patients changed treatment and 40% of patients changed medication. Basically you just take the pill camera with a glass of water and it takes pictures of your small bowel and sends them to your doctor (you wear a small belt and recorder). More than 2 million people have already taken the PillCamera which is interesting. The risks are pretty minor. The risk of retention is less than 3% for Crohn's patients.

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