ABSTRACT
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common medical
and surgical emergency affecting the gastrointestinal tract of
infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. NEC affects 15% of all preterm infants.1,2 Up to 50% of neonates who develop
NEC eventually require surgical intervention,3,4 with the
mortality rate for these patients varying from 20 to 50%,5,6
and approaching 100% for infants with pan-intestinal NEC.6
The majority of infants who develop NEC have extremely low
birth weight. As advances in neonatal medicine have resulted
in increased survival of these infants, the incidence of NEC
continues to rise.
