title: [Clinical significance of serum intestinal fatty acid-binding protein in full-term infants with necrotizing enterocolitis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical value of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) in full-term newborn infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-one full-term infants with a confirmed diagnosis of NEC from February 2012 to January 2014 were recruited as case group (stage I: 24 cases; stage II-III: 17 cases). Sixty-two children diagnosed with non-digestive diseases in the same period were recruited as the control group. Serum levels of I-FABP and C-reactive protein (CRP) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The diagnostic value of I-FABP for NEC was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stage I and stage II-III cases in the case group had significantly higher serum I-FABP levels than the control group (P<0.05), and stage II-III cases had significantly higher serum I-FABP levels than stage I cases (P<0.05). The area under the ROC curve for serum I-FABP was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78-0.92), with the optimal cut-off point of 2.25 ng/mL. Under this cut-off point, the sensitivity and specificity were 80.49% and 70.19%, respectively. There was no significant difference in serum CRP level between the case and control groups (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In newborn infants with NEC, serum I-FABP level increases significantly in stage I , and it is correlated with the disease severity. Therefore, serum I-FABP can be used as a biomarker for the diagnosis of NEC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming 650034, China. lipingkh96@sina.cn.
authors.forename: Chun-Rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Huang-Fu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yun-Fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D020345:Enterocolitis, Necrotizing / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D002097:C-Reactive Protein