Objective: To investigate the accuracy of preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis via comparison to pathologic diagnosis in spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) vs. necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Study design: A retrospective review of neonates <1500 g treated for pneumoperitoneum between 07/2004-09/2022 was conducted. Patients treated for NEC medically prior to diagnosis and those treated with drain only were excluded. Fleiss' Kappa analysis assessed agreement between all three diagnoses: preoperative, intraoperative, and pathologic.
Result: Overall, 125 patients were included with mean birthweight 834.2 g (SD:259.2) and mean gestational age 25.8 weeks (SD:2.2). Preoperative and intraoperative diagnoses agreed in 90.3%, intraoperative and pathologic agreed in 71.1%, and preoperative and pathologic agreed in 75.2% of patients. Fleiss' Kappa was 0.55 (95% CI:0.43,0.68), indicating moderate agreement between the three diagnoses.
Conclusion: Our study shows moderate agreement between preoperative, intraoperative, and pathologic diagnoses. Further studies investigating the clinical characteristics of SIP and NEC are needed to improve diagnostic accuracy and management.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.