Surgery for neonatal necrotising enterocolitis in Ireland 1980-1985.
Forty-seven infants were operated on for necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in Ireland in a 6-year-period from 1980 to 1985. Incidence for surgical NEC in Ireland is 1/8733 live births. 44/47 patients were operated on during the acute phase and 3 patients had elective resection of strictures following conservative management. Indication for surgery in the acute phase was pneumoperitoneum in 37 infants. The initial procedure was: drainage alone in 10 patients, laparotomy and defunctioning enterostomy in 18, resection of the necrotic segment and proximal enterostomy in 15. 27/44 acute patients survived giving an overall mortality of 38.6% for acute NEC but mortality directly related to NEC was 31.8%. There was an inverse relationship between mortality and age at surgery. Medical treatment included total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in all patients for a mean time of 20.5 days.
Dykes
E H
EH
Children's Research Centre, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, Ireland.
Fitzgerald
R J
RJ
O'Donnell
B
B
D015331:Cohort Studies; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007494:Ireland; D011027:Pneumoperitoneum / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*