To evaluate the clinical efficacy of fecal microbial transplant(FMT)for patients with refractory functional constipation.

Sixty patients with refractory functional constipation who met inclusion criteria in Hospital of Digestive Disease of Fourth Military Medical University from November 2013 to May 2015 were selected.All patients were randomly assigned to groups that either underwent FMT after receiving polyethylene glycol electrolyte or were given only polyethylene glycol electrolyte(control)for one month.The treatment outcome was measured by BSFS and KESS scores before and after treatment, and the PAC-QOL scores were assessed to evaluate the patients′quality of life.

There was no significant difference of the scores of BSFS[(1.23±0.50)vs.(1.20±0.48)], KESS[(27.93±4.98)vs.(25.60±5.48)]and PAC-QOL[(111.40±15.06)vs.(110.30±19.11)]between the FMT group and the control group before treatment(P>0.05). The significant improvements were obtained in the score of BSFS, KESS and PAC-QOL in the FMT group compared with the control group after treatment(P<0.05). Compared with control group, significant overall improvements were seen in BSFS scores[(2.37±1.20)vs.(3.10±1.13)]. The improvements were also accompanied by the decrease of KESS[(16.97±7.37)vs.(12.43±7.48)]and PAC-QOL[(87.13±27.52)vs.(63.10±26.40)]scores.The total effective rates of the FMT group and the control group were 83.3% and 53.3% respectively.No severe adverse effects occurred during treatment.

FMT combined with polyethylene glycol provides a higher improvement rate in treatment with refractory functional constipation.It relieves the symptoms of patients and improves the quality of life.FMT combined with polyethylene glycol should be a reasonable choice to treat refractory functional constipation and deserve the clinical expansion.

Constipation; Enterococcus; Quality of life; Fecal microbial transplant