St. Luke’s Monroe Campus now offers a highly effective, innovative procedure to treat individuals with clostridium difficile infection, a serious infection that causes symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.

St. Luke’s gastroenterologist Dr. Robert Malcolm recently performed what is believed to be Monroe County’s first fecal microbiota transplant, which greatly improved the life of the patient, a woman in her 20s.

“She told me numerous times that she felt that due to her condition, her life was on hold,” Malcolm said. “She couldn’t go to work because of the symptoms. She was desperate for relief, so when we talked about the option she didn’t hesitate at all.”

Before the procedure, Malcolm had treated the patient with three courses of antibiotics, which were not effective in relieving her symptoms.

During the procedure, the patient receives stool containing beneficial intestinal microbiota from a carefully screened, healthy donor, Malcolm said. The stool arrives in a frozen state and is then liquefied and transplanted into the patient with a syringe during colonoscopy. After the stool is placed in the patient’s gastrointestinal tract, the transplanted fecal matter delivers microbiota necessary for the gut to function properly.

“The procedure is relatively inexpensive, easily available and has more than a 90 percent cure rate. The majority of patients get results in three to five days. I think it’s wonderful that we are able to offer this procedure locally,” Malcolm said, adding that to the best of his knowledge, St. Luke’s is the only hospital offering the procedures in the Pocono area.

Traditionally, physicians treat C. diff with a course of antibiotics and probiotics. However, the effectiveness of this treatment varies, and C. diff can become chronic and lead to repeated use of antibiotics, adverse drug events, antibiotic resistance and repeated hospitalizations.

St. Luke’s also offers fecal microbiota transplants at its Bethlehem campus. Performing the procedure are gastroenterologist Berhanu Geme, MD, and colorectal surgeons Dr. Camille Eyvazzadeh and Dr. Daniel Eyvazzadeh.