Necrotizing Enterocolitis

• NEC is an inflammatory lesion of bowel which can progress to intestinal gangrene, with perforation, and /or peritonitis
• characterized by abdominal distension, feeding difficulties, and GI bleeding
• mainly affects pre-term infants, and most commonly affects distal ileum and proximal colon
• usually presents during the first 2 weeks of life, but may occur up to 3 months of age in infants who who born weighing <1000grams
• classic finding on abdominal XR is pneumatosis intestinalis or air in the bowel wall (pathognomonic) and is present 50-75% of the time
• treat emergently with nasogastric decompression, IVF recussitation, NPO, and IV antibiotics

References

MedStudy Board Review

Pediatrics Core Curriculum