Comparison of imaging findings of surgical necrotizing enterocolitis between extremely preterm and preterm infants.
Extremely preterm infants show pneumatosis intestinalis less often than older preterm infants
Comparison of imaging findings of surgical necrotizing enterocolitis between extremely preterm and preterm infants.
Advances in neonatal care have improved survival of extremely premature infants (<28 weeks gestational age (gestational age)), especially with necrotizing enterocolitis (necrotizing enterocolitis).
To evaluate if imaging features of necrotizing enterocolitis differ between extreme premature and premature infants.
Were stratified by gestational age (<28 weeks vs. ≥28 weeks) and birth weight (<1,500 g vs. ≥1,500 g).
extremely preterm infants less often show pneumatosis intestinalis than older preterm infants
Ninety patients met inclusion criteria (median age 21.5 days); 43.3% (n=39) female.
In total, 56% (50/90) had gestational age <28 weeks and 86% (77/90) had birth weight <1,500 g.
All 90 patients had abdominal radiographs; only 19% (17/90) had bowel ultrasound.
In unadjusted analyses, we found that infants with gestational age <28 weeks were more likely to demonstrate paucity of bowel gas (OR 4.64, 95%CI 1.41-15.2, P-value 0.01), and less likely to have fixed bowel loops (OR 0.16, 95%CI 0.04-0.62, P-value 0.01) or pneumatosis intestinalis (OR 0.38, 95%CI 0.15-0.96, P-value 0.04).
Extremely premature (<28 weeks) and very low birth weight (<1,500 g) infants tend to show fewer classic radiographic signs of necrotizing enterocolitis, i.e., pneumatosis intestinalis and fixed bowel loops, and more often exhibit a paucity of bowel gas.