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Richmond researcher and physician Jasmohan Bajaj knows the wisdom of listening to your gut.
A gastroenterologist and liver specialist with the VCU School of Medicine and the Central Virginia VA Health Care System, he’s been a frequent investigator into the myriad connections between gut health and overall well-being, and also has a focus on the diseases of addiction.
Bajaj is the lead researcher for a study published in early August in the journal Hepatology that found that people with cirrhosis of the liver and problem drinking show improved cognitive abilities and consume fewer alcoholic beverages after receiving a fecal microbiota transplant.
Also known as stool transplants, such procedures involve taking fecal matter from a healthy person and placing it into another. It is often used as a treatment for a C. difficile infection.
The double-blind trial involved 20 men; half were randomly assigned to receive the bacteria, the other half received a placebo. They were tested 15 days after the enema transplant. Alcohol cravings were less severe in 90% of the participants who received the transplants and dropped in three of the 10 who received a placebo. They also had less alcohol in their urine and showed improvements in mental functions. Researchers followed up with the participants after six months as well.
The study showed that the transplants are effective and safe, according to Bajaj.
Dr. Bajaj
Dr. Jasmohan Bajaj
There also may be differences in the gut bacteria between men and women, and that may account for gender differences in response to drugs to treat the condition, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Hepatology by a group of researchers that included Bajaj.
Analysis of serum levels of intestinal microbe metabolites may also be useful in identifying people hospitalized with cirrhosis who are at risk of dying, according to a study in the July issue of Gastroenterology by Bajaj and others.
Bajaj was also the lead researcher in a study published in July that found that people hospitalized with cirrhosis and COVID-19 died at about the same rate as people with cirrhosis only, and that people with cirrhosis and the coronavirus died at higher rates than people with COVID-19 alone. The study involved 37 people with coronavirus and cirrhosis, 108 with COVID-19 and 127 with cirrhosis at seven sites. There was a 30% mortality rate in those with both conditions vs. those with only the coronavirus, and there was 30% mortality in people with both conditions and 20% mortality in people with only cirrhosis. The study was conducted on patients in the hospitals from March 23 through May 21.
The study was conducted during the pandemic’s initial wave, which may have affected participation: Only the sickest were showing up to hospital at the time, because they were scared of COVID-19, Bajaj says.
