There is an old saying that brains are baffled by the end product of a bull’s digestion.

But a similar product, from carefully selected human donors, might reduce recurrent hepatic encephalopathy in liver disease patients and protect their brains, according to Jasmohan Bajaj, MD, of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.

“This is the first randomized trial to show that fecal transplantation may be of benefit to patients with hepatic encephalopathy,” said panel moderator Tom Hemming Karlsen, MD, PhD, of Oslo’s University Hospital Rikshospitalet, although it remains left to find out how best to manipulate the gut microbiota in patients with the condition.

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