Clinical Research Directory

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Preventing Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Extrapulmonary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Real-World Study

Existing studies have demonstrated that patients with different types of tumors exhibit significant increases in Enterobacter and Staphylococcus genera, along with marked decreases in Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Enterococcus genera in their feces following chemotherapy. Research reports indicate a significant decline in bacterial diversity in rectal cancer patients post-chemotherapy, particularly showing reduced abundances of Porphyromonas, Peptostreptococcus, and Veillonella. Motoori et al. found that esophageal cancer patients undergoing combined chemotherapy with 5-FU, cisplatin, and docetaxel experienced significant reductions in intestinal Lactobacillus, alongside notable increases in Clostridium difficile and Enterococcus. Iida et al. confirmed that gut microbiota enhances the therapeutic efficacy of platinum-based agents and CpG oligonucleotides in cancer treatment. Concurrent studies suggest that probiotic supplementation during chemotherapy alleviates chemotherapy-related gastrointestinal reactions. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which involves transferring functional microbiota from healthy donors to patients' gastrointestinal tracts to reconstruct gut microbiota and improve microbial homeostasis, has emerged as a key clinical approach for regulating gut dysbiosis. It is currently recognized as the most effective established therapy for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Previous studies have indicated FMT as a relatively safe, effective, and recommended treatment modality, while providing theoretical and experimental foundations for elucidating its efficacy and safety in preventing/reducing gastrointestinal symptoms associated with digestive tract cancer therapies. This study aims to evaluate the improvement of treatment-related gastrointestinal symptoms and safety profile of FMT in extrapulmonary neuroendocrine tumor patients.