Introduction: Fecal microbiota transplantation's role in ulcerative colitis was
discussed controversially. Literature regarding the route of administration
lack. Aims: we aimed to assess the different routes of fecal microbiota
transplantation in ulcerative colitis remission. Methods: A systematic literature
search was conducted in PubMed Cochrane Library and Google Scholar from
January 2011 up to September 2021. Two reviewers searched the databases for
relevant articles. The terms microbiota transplantation, fecal transplantation,
ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, colonoscopy route, upper
gastrointestinal route and oral capsule were used. The author's name year and
country of publication, the study methodology and the results of the included
studies were entered in Excel before data analysis by the most RevMan
system. Results: Out of 762 studies retrieved, 25 full texts were screened and
ten cohorts from 7 studies were included in the final meta-analysis. The
colonic route (five cohorts), odd ratio, 4.06, 95% CI, 2.19-7.50, observed a
higher rate of ulcerative colitis remission compared to placebo. The chi-square
was 1.94 and the P-value for overall effect was < 0.0001. However, five cohorts
including 35 events and 60 patients showed that fecal transplantation
administered by the upper gastrointestinal tract was not different from
placebo regarding clinical remission, odd ratio, 1.45, 95% CI, 0.48-4.37, P-value
for overall effect, 0.51 and endoscopic remission, P-value, 0.91. Conclusion:
Fecal microbiota transplantation administered by colonoscopy was effective in
ulcerative colitis remission. However, upper gastrointestinal administration
was not. Further, longer multicenter studies assessing the characters of
donors, frequency and duration of microbiota administration are needed.
Keywords: microbiota transplantation, ulcerative colitis remission, route of
administration