We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) in this Meta-analysis.

Literature related to FMT for the treatment of UC from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane databases, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang Data were searched and screened with update study in May 2018. Two independent investigators extracted information according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Meta-analysis was conducted by Stata 12.0 software.

A total of 4 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 19 non-randomized controlled trials (non-RCTs) including 536 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of RCTs showed that FMT significantly increased the clinical remission rate (OR=2.47, 95%CI 1.40-4.33, P=0.02) and clinical response rate (OR=1.86, 95%CI 1.15-3.02, P=0.01) in UC patients without increasing the incidence of severe adverse effects (OR=1.40, 95%CI 0.51-3.79, P=0.51). The results from 19 non-RCTs showed that clinical remission rate in UC patients with FMT treatment was 20%(95%CI 13%-28%) and the clinical response rate was 50%(95%CI 36%-65%). All adverse events were graded as mild and self-resolving. No FMT-related severe adverse effects were reported.

Our analysis suggests that FMT is a safe and effective method for the treatment of UC. Considering several limitations of this Meta-analysis and previous clinical trials, further large-scale multicenter RCTs are still required to further verify the conclusion.

Meta-analysis; Colitis, ulcerative; Fecal microbiota transplantation