Multi-Centre Trial of Fresh vs. Frozen-and-Thawed FMT for Recurrent CDI
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01398969 |
Recruitment Status :
Completed
First Posted : July 21, 2011
Last Update Posted : June 7, 2021
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
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Clostridium Difficile Infection | Biological: Fresh FMT Biological: Frozen-and-Thawed FMT | Phase 2 |
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 232 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Intervention Model Description: | Participants received either FMT or placebo to prevent further episode of CDI following FMT |
Masking: | Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor) |
Primary Purpose: | Prevention |
Official Title: | A Prospective Randomized Multi-Centre Trial of Fresh vs. Frozen-and-Thawed FMT (Fecal Microbiota Transplantation) for Recurrent Clostridium Difficile Infection |
Study Start Date : | July 2012 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | January 2015 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | March 2015 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Experimental: Fresh FMT
Participants in this arm will receive Fresh FMT via rectal administration. They will be followed for 13 weeks to assess the cure or recurrence of CDI. All other procedures between the two arms will be identical.
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Biological: Fresh FMT
Participants will receive fresh FMT (supernatant of fecal specimen mixed with water) on day 1. If cure is not reached at day 5 (+3) a repeat FMT will be performed
Other Name: Fresh Fecal Transplantation (FMT) |
Experimental: Frozen-and-Thawed FMT
Participants in this arm will receive Frozen-and-Thawed FMT via rectal administration. They will be followed 13 weeks to assess the cure or recurrence of CDI. All other procedures between the two arms will be identical.
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Biological: Frozen-and-Thawed FMT
Participants will receive frozen-and-thawed FMT (supernatant of fecal specimen mixed with water) on day 1. If cure is not reached at day 5 (+3) a repeat FMT will be performed
Other Name: Frozen-and-Thawed Fecal Transplantation (FMT) |
- The evaluation of the safety of HBT [ Time Frame: 13 Weeks post HBT ]Assessment for adverse reactions in each study group by history, physical examination, blood work at baseline, day 12, week 5 and at completion (week 13) of the study period.
- To determine the cure rate without recurrence of CDI at 13 weeks from the last HBT. [ Time Frame: 13 Weeks post HBT ]
- To determine the relapse rate of clinical and laboratory evidence of CDI within the 13-week study period in participants treated with fresh HBT in comparison to frozen thawed HBT. [ Time Frame: 13 Weeks post HBT ]
- Assessment of the functional health and well-being of patients [ Time Frame: Up to 1 year ]Patients will be asked to fill in the self-administered Health Survey at baseline, week 5, week 13 and 1 year from last HBT

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Patient inclusion criteria
- Age 18 years or older.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Laboratory or pathology: confirmed diagnosis of recurrent CDI with symptoms (defined below) within the previous 180 days.
- ≥ 2 episodes of CDI within 6 months and/or ongoing symptoms consistent with CDI despite treatment with oral vancomycin at a dose of at least 125 mg 4 times daily for at least 5 days.
Symptoms of CDI, diarrhea defined as: 3 or more unformed bowel movements in 24 hours for a minimum of 2 days with no other causes for diarrhea. Subjects will be required to have laboratory or pathology-confirmed diagnosis of recurrent C. difficile infection where recurrence is defined as return of diarrhea and positive stool test after a period of symptom resolution within 8 weeks of the first episode and has received at least a 10-day course of standard antibiotic therapy.
Patient exclusion criteria
- Planned or actively participating in another clinical trial.
- Patients with neutropenia with absolute neutrophil count <0.5 x 109/L
- Evidence of toxic megacolon or gastrointestinal perforation on abdominal x-ray
- Peripheral white blood cell count > 30.0 x 10E9/L AND temperature > 38.0 oC
- Active gastroenteritis due to Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli 0157H7, Yersinia or Campylobacter.
- Presence of colostomy
- Unable to tolerate HBT or enema for any reason.
- Requiring systemic antibiotic therapy for more than 7 days.
- Actively taking Saccharomyces boulardii
- Severe underlying disease such that the patient is not expected to survive for at least 30 days.
- Any condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, that the treatment may pose a health risk to the subject.
Donor inclusion
- Able to provide and sign informed consent.
- Able to complete and sign the donor questionnaire
- Able to adhere to fecal transplantation stool collection standard operating procedure.
Donor exclusion
- Tested positive for any of the following: Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1/2, hepatitis IgM, hepatitis B (HBsAg), hepatitis C antibody, syphilis, human T- lymphotrophic virus (HTLV) 1/II and vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE), methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), Salmonella, Shigella, E.coli O157 H7, Yersinia and Campylobacter.
- Detection of ova, parasites, C. difficile toxin, norovirus, adenovirus, rotavirus on stool examination
- History of any type of active cancer or autoimmune disease
- History of risk factors for acquisition of HIV, syphilis, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, prion or any neurological disease as determined by the donor questionnaire, appendix B.
- History of gastrointestinal comorbidities, e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation or diarrhea
- Receipt of blood transfusion from a country other than Canada in preceding 6 months
- Antibiotic use or any systemic immunosuppressive agents in the 3 months prior to stool donation
- Receipt of any type of live vaccine within 3 months prior to stool donation
- Ingestion of nut or shell fish 3 days preceding donation if the recipient has known allergies to these food.
- Any current or previous medical or psychosocial condition or behaviours which in the opinion of the investigator may pose risk to the recipients or the donor

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01398969
Canada, British Columbia | |
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCHRI/VCHA) - Diamond Health Care Centre and Vancouver General Hospital | |
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z 1M9 | |
Canada, Ontario | |
St. Joseph's Hospital | |
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8N4A6 | |
Hamilton Health Sciences | |
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada | |
Kingston General Hospital | |
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 2V7 |
Principal Investigator: | Christine Lee, MD | St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton |
Responsible Party: | McMaster University |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT01398969 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
CDI.HBT.1 |
First Posted: | July 21, 2011 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | June 7, 2021 |
Last Verified: | March 2015 |
Randomized Double Blind Fecal Transplant Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection CDI |
HBT Diarrhea Frozen HBT Thawed HBT Fecal Enema |
Infections Clostridium Infections Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections Bacterial Infections Bacterial Infections and Mycoses |