The Most Disgusting Medical Procedure Ever
mysticweed
Posts: 3,710
Cure a nasty stomach bug with a transplant of someone else's feces
you have got to be SHITTING me
Prepare to cringe and/or vomit: Some doctors are treating patients with a nasty stomach bug by injecting them with other people’s feces.
A growing number of gastroenterologists are now choosing to treat patients with clostridium difficile—a bacteria infection of the colon that causes severe diarrhea and abdominal pain—with “transpoosions,” as the transplants are jokingly called.
The normal treatment for the infection is an antibiotic called Vancomycin, but at approximately $60 a pill, it can be pricey—and not always effective, says Lawrence Brandt, M.D., of the Montifiore Medical Center in New York. After patients with C. Diff (as the hipsters call it) complete their Vancomycin treatment, approximately 20 percent relapse and need another course of therapy.
Meanwhile, there’s never been an adverse effect reported with the stool transplants, and of the roughly 200 cases published on the procedure, patients have seen an astounding 92 percent cure rate, Brandt says.
“If I gave you the choice of taking a very expensive antibiotic with a 20 percent failure rate versus getting a somewhat yucky procedure that takes 10 minutes and will cure you, which would you do?” Brandt asks. It’s also generally cheaper: There’s no charge for a fecal transplant in the U.S., so it’s the cost of a colonoscopy, which is often covered by your insurance company.
So who supplies the poop? Usually, the donors are the patients’ friends or family members. (Just imagine asking a buddy to help you out—call it the ultimate friendship test.)
Patients with severe C. Diff have watery diarrhea 10 to 15 times a day and frequent abdominal cramping, among other symptoms. Tack on expensive antibiotics and hospital bills, and it’s easy to see why some patients are willing to try anything to get better, says C. Brock Miller, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We have so few cures in all of medicine—it’s always just treatments to keep things under control. But for the most part, this is a one-and-done thing,” he says.
If we’ve just freaked you out and you’re still repulsed at the idea of having someone else’s business inside you, then take precaution: Check out Fighting the New Superbug.
you have got to be SHITTING me
Prepare to cringe and/or vomit: Some doctors are treating patients with a nasty stomach bug by injecting them with other people’s feces.
A growing number of gastroenterologists are now choosing to treat patients with clostridium difficile—a bacteria infection of the colon that causes severe diarrhea and abdominal pain—with “transpoosions,” as the transplants are jokingly called.
The normal treatment for the infection is an antibiotic called Vancomycin, but at approximately $60 a pill, it can be pricey—and not always effective, says Lawrence Brandt, M.D., of the Montifiore Medical Center in New York. After patients with C. Diff (as the hipsters call it) complete their Vancomycin treatment, approximately 20 percent relapse and need another course of therapy.
Meanwhile, there’s never been an adverse effect reported with the stool transplants, and of the roughly 200 cases published on the procedure, patients have seen an astounding 92 percent cure rate, Brandt says.
“If I gave you the choice of taking a very expensive antibiotic with a 20 percent failure rate versus getting a somewhat yucky procedure that takes 10 minutes and will cure you, which would you do?” Brandt asks. It’s also generally cheaper: There’s no charge for a fecal transplant in the U.S., so it’s the cost of a colonoscopy, which is often covered by your insurance company.
So who supplies the poop? Usually, the donors are the patients’ friends or family members. (Just imagine asking a buddy to help you out—call it the ultimate friendship test.)
Patients with severe C. Diff have watery diarrhea 10 to 15 times a day and frequent abdominal cramping, among other symptoms. Tack on expensive antibiotics and hospital bills, and it’s easy to see why some patients are willing to try anything to get better, says C. Brock Miller, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We have so few cures in all of medicine—it’s always just treatments to keep things under control. But for the most part, this is a one-and-done thing,” he says.
If we’ve just freaked you out and you’re still repulsed at the idea of having someone else’s business inside you, then take precaution: Check out Fighting the New Superbug.
fuck 'em if they can't take a joke
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
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i didn't get past this
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