Abstract
Of 720 newboms admitted to our NICU in a recent 38-month period, 54 (7.5%) developed NEC. In an attempt to better define the etiology of NEC, the acute course of these patients was compared to 98 control patients matched for birth weight. Survival was 37% in NEC as compared to 65% in control patients. The frequency of RDS (74%) and of perinatal asphyxia (32%), hypotension (20%) and hypothermia (20%) was comparable in the two groups. Stool cultures showed no predominance of a single organism in either group. Although DIG (48%) and sepsis (38%) both occurred three times as often in NEC patients as in controls, their onset usually coincided with, rather than preceded, the onset of NEC. On the day of life that NEC occurred, all 54 NEC patients and 63% of controls were receiving formula feedings, both at 80 cal/kg/day. 96% of NEC patients had umbilical arterial (UA) catheters and 78% were still in place within 24 hours of onset of NEC; 73% of controls had UA catheters. Average duration of UA catheters was 7.7 days in NEC as compared to 5.4 days in controls (P=.05). 69% of NEC and 43% of control patients (P=.05) had UV catheters. NEC patients were indistinguishable from controls prior to the onset of NEC. Although our data does not define one single etiology of NEC, the high incidence of formula feedings in NEC patients does suggest that formula feedings may be related to the etiology of NEC as well as to the extent of intramural gas.
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Frantz, I., L'Heureux, P., Engel, R. et al. CLINICAL CORRELATES OF NECROTIZING ENTEROCOLITIS (NEC). Pediatr Res 8, 381 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00244