Poop pills take on pancreatic cancer: early trial tests gut bacteria therapy

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients that are seen at MD Anderson Cancer Center * Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) diagnosis who are expected to have surgery (Whipple) * Adequate hematological function, defined by white blood cell (WBC) count ≥ 3,000/microL, platelet count ≥75,000/microL, and Hgb ≥ 8 g/dL * Adequate hepatic function defined by a total bilirubin level ≤ 1.5 × the upper limit of normal (ULN), an AST, level ≤ 2.5 × ULN, and an ALT level ≤ 2.5 × ULN * Adequate renal function defined by an estimated creatinine clearance \>30 mL/min according to the Cockcroft-Gault formula or by a creatinine clearance measurement from a 24-hour urine collection * Age 18 years and above * Male or female * Willingness and ability to sign an informed consent * Consent and ability to give blood and stool samples * Consent to undergo a baseline core biopsy and colonoscopy for FMT delivery * An Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 to 2 Exclusion Criteria: * Age younger than 18 years * Positive GI infection * Patients with pancreatic cancer Stage T1N0 * Individuals at higher risk of colonization with MDROs * Patient received antibiotics in the last 48 hours. Patients will be eligible to enroll if antibiotic therapy is discontinued for at minimum 48 hours prior to start of study * Patients with active viral, bacterial or fungal infection * History of inflammatory bowel disease, and/or radiation enteritis or colitis * Pregnant and breastfeeding women * Women of child-bearing potential who have positive urine or serum pregnancy test or refuse to do pregnancy test * Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency * Peripheral WBC \>12 x 10\^9/L and/or temperature \>38 degrees Celsius * Subjects with neutropenia (ANC \<1500) * Swallowing dysfunction or known chronic aspiration * Delayed gastric emptying * History of intestinal obstruction * Acute exacerbation of underlying comorbid condition * Severely immunocompromised patients * Allergies to drugs included as part of trial (antibiotics, loperamide or laxatives)