Is it necrotising enterocolitis? Is it focal intestinal perforation? Or is it something else? And does it matter?

Making an accurate distinction between necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and focal intestinal perforation (FIP) in a preterm infant presenting with obvious abdominal pathology has challenged neonatologists and neonatal surgeons for some time. With similarities between the epidemiology, presenting symptoms, clinical signs, radiology, surgical findings, histopathology and even postmortem findings, it is unsurprising that making an accurate distinction between these disease entities is fraught with difficulty. Indeed, according to some published definitions, there is significant overlap and using some of these may result in inability to differentiate at all.1 2 Yet, there are reasons why making this distinction is important in our quest to improve both understanding and outcomes. The recent report by Berrington and Embleton illustrates some of the difficulties nicely.3 They reviewed a large series of preterm infants born less than 32 weeks’ gestation treated over a 10-year period in a tertiary neonatal...
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition - Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research