Azcentral.com Showcases How Fecal Transplant Saves Lives

    GILBERT, AZ, July 05, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Mesa resident, Sue Denning, sought treatment for a large sore on her head, but never realized it would lead to a six-month struggle to save her life. Beginning in late October through April 2013, Denning fought severe diarrhea, weight loss and abdominal pain in Mesa. During this time, she was even hospitalized three times for a bacterial infection. With each visit, Denning became weaker than before.

When Denning's daughter, Andrea, was doing research she came across a fecal transplant procedure. While this procedure seemed outrageous, and hard to imagine, Andrea sought the help of Dr. Andrew Weinberg. A fecal transplant procedure involves transferring the healthy bacteria in a donor's stool into a patient suffering from Clostridium difficile, C. diff infection. This infection involves bacterium that can wreak havoc in the intestines and cause a patient to become extremely ill, suffering from an array of symptoms, including Mesa diarrhea.

"Sue Denning understood what was involved in this procedure, but did not care because she was so sick," said Dr. Andrew Weinberg, gastroenterologist in Mesa. "Some patients think this is a gross procedure, but the end result can be drastically improved health and well being."

Approximately a week after having Denning received her fecal transplant, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed stools an "investigational new drug," and ordered doctors to stop performing the procedure immediately until getting the go-ahead. For approval, doctors must submit detailed paperwork outlining the transplant protocol they will use. It is unknown how long it will take for a response from the agency, but in an emergency, doctors can expect to hear back immediately.

"Lucky for Sue Denning, we were able to complete the procedure before this took place, thus saving her life. Fecal transplants may not be a person's first choice in treatment, but when their health has dropped significantly and nothing else is working, this is an excellent procedure that often produces results immediately," said Dr. Weinberg, Mesa gastroenterologist.

Today, there are three methods used in transferring healthy bacteria from a stool sample. Once the stool sample is collected, it is mixed with a saline solution and filtered. Next, the sample will be transferred to the patient via a colonoscopy, enema or nasal tube. Dr. Weinberg, gastroenterologist in Mesa, AZ, most often chooses the Mesa colonoscopy method, and has been performing this procedure since 2011 because some patients were not responding to conventional medical treatments.

"For some patients, the C. diff lasts for months and months. Despite the best medicine, some patients do not respond to treatment," said Dr. Andrew Weinberg, Mesa, AZ gastroenterologist. "With a fecal transplant, we seem to finally see improvement in these patients. They feel they have finally gotten their life back. With this procedure, patients can experience a 90 percent cure rate, and sometimes it is by the next day."

Although the fecal transplant procedure has been used to treat C. diff since 1983, it has gained ground among the medical community only in recent years. Public awareness recently grew in January after the New England Journal of Medicine published results of a fecal-transplant study in the Netherlands. Thirteen of the 16 patients who received the procedure got better.

Dr. Andrew Weinberg is happy that he was able to help Sue Denning get better and experience a significant improvement in her health this year. He looks forward to continuing to provide this procedure with FDA permission as needed with patients and hopes it will continue to provide superior results for years to come.

About Weinberg Gastrointestinal: Dr. Andrew Weinberg opened Weinberg Gastrointestinal in January of 2012, emphasizing complete compassionate care. At Weinberg Gastrointestinal, Dr. Weinberg's priority is to deliver quality care to informed patients in a comfortable setting for abdominal pain, colonoscopy and heartburn in Mesa, among others. Dr. Weinberg received his D.O. from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, PA. He also completed his Gastroenterology Fellowship at University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. Before opening Weinberg Gastrointestinal in Gilbert/Mesa area he practiced internal medicine. He is also an avid medical device inventor and holds several United States Patents in the field of gastroenterology.

Media Contact:
Dr. Andrew Weinberg
[email protected]
4915 E. Baseline Road, Suite 126
Gilbert, AZ 85234
(480) 745-3690
http://www.weinberggi.com

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