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PubMed · 7659062

Necrotizing enterocolitis.

L A Parker
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Abstract

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a disease characterized by ischemia and necrosis of the gastrointestinal tract frequently leading to perforation of the intestine. It occurs primarily in the premature infant and is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the low birth weight infant. Careful nursing and medical care can greatly reduce the incidence and severity of this disease, thus decreasing both the associated morbidity and mortality. This article reviews the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of NEC; presents a case study; and provides a nursing care plan for treatment of this disease.

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Enterocolitis, PseudomembranousHumansInfant, NewbornIntensive Care, NeonatalMalePatient Care PlanningCase ReportsJournal Article

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L A Parker. 1995. Necrotizing enterocolitis.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7659062/

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PubMed1994

Pseudomembranous enterocolitis and hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis in Hirschsprung's disease.

From 1977 to 1991, we encountered 67 patients with Hirschsprung's disease and 14 of them developed enterocolitis, with 3 cases being fatal. Enterocolitis occurred preoperatively in 12 infants, as well as after ileostomy in one and after a pull-through procedure in another. Seven infants had severe enterocolitis, including three with pseudomembranous enterocolitis and four with hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis. Enterocolitis in Hirschsprung's disease mainly occurs due to intestinal obstruction and ischemia; however, in some cases, Clostridium difficile overgrowth and its toxin also appears to be related to severe pseudomembranous enterocolitis. In severe enterocolitis, antibiotics and enterostomy often prove to be ineffective, and thus an early resection of the affected bowel appears to be necessary. Moreover, when the aganglionic segment extends to the small bowel, severe enterocolitis tends to occur in the aganglionic intestine even after performing an enterostomy, and a resection of the aganglionic bowel is therefore recommended to allow for adequate lavage of the segment distal to the enterostomy site.

Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous↗