title: Chinese physicians' perceptions of fecal microbiota transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore Chinese physicians' perceptions towards fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and to provide information and an assessment of FMT development in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire was developed according to the FMT practice guidelines and was distributed to physicians in hospitals via Internet Research Electronic Data Capture (REDcap) software and electronic mails to assess their attitudes toward and knowledge of FMT. The questionnaire included a brief introduction of FMT that was followed by 20 questions. The participants were required to respond voluntarily, under the condition of anonymity and without compensation. Except for the fill-in-the-blank questions, all of the other questions were required in the REDcap data collection systems, and the emailed questionnaires were completed based on eligibility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Up to December 9, 2014, 844 eligible questionnaires were received out of the 980 distributed questionnaires, with a response rate of 86.1%. Among the participants, 87.3% were from tertiary hospitals, and there were 647 (76.7%) gastroenterologists and 197 (23.3%) physicians in other departments (non-gastroenterologists). Gastroenterologists' awareness of FMT prior to the survey was much higher than non-gastroenterologists' (54.3 vs 16.5%, P < 0.001); however, acceptance of FMT was not statistically different (92.4 vs 87.1%, P = 0.1603). Major concerns of FMT included the following: acceptability to patients (79.2%), absence of guidelines (56.9%), and administration and ethics (46.5%). On the basis of understanding, the FMT indications preferred by physicians were recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (86.7%), inflammatory bowel disease combined with Clostridium difficile infection (78.6%), refractory ulcerative colitis (70.9%), ulcerative colitis (65.4%), Crohn's disease (59.4%), chronic constipation (43.7%), irritable bowel syndrome (39.1%), obesity (28.1%) and type 2 diabetes (23.9%). For donor selection, the majority of physicians preferred individuals with a similar gut flora environment to the recipients. 76.6% of physicians chose lower gastrointestinal tract as the administration approach. 69.2% of physicians considered FMT a safe treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chinese physicians have awareness and a high acceptance of FMT, especially gastroenterologists, which provides the grounds and conditions for the development of this novel treatment in China. Physicians' greatest concerns were patient acceptability and absence of guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Rong-Rong
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Li-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Quan
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Bin
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Ming
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Yuan
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Kai
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Rong-Rong Ren, Gang Sun, Yun-Sheng Yang, Li-Hua Peng, Shu-Fang Wang, Yong-Ling Ban, Fei Pan, Zi-Kai Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D002681:China; D000069467:Fecal Microbiota Transplantation; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013038:Specialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese physicians; Fecal microbiota transplantation; Gastroenterologists; Perception; Survey