Background: We hypothesized that supplemental parenteral nutrition (PN) decreases the need for surgery and mortality associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Methods: Single institution retrospective review of all premature, low birth weight infants with NEC from January 2006 to December 2013 was conducted.
Results: NEC was identified in 114 premature, low birth weight infants, 59 (51.8%) of which required surgical management. Surgical NEC infants were born younger (25.8 ± 4.0 vs 27.8 ± 3.3 weeks, P = .005) and weighed less at birth (829 ± 281 vs 938 ± 271 g, P = .038) than those managed medically. There was no difference in the use of PN (37.7% vs 31.4%, P = .541) between surgical and medical NEC patients. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality at discharge between patients who had PN at NEC onset and those who did not (31.4% vs 42.6%, P = .294) CONCLUSION: In this single-center study, supplemental PN at NEC onset does not appear to significantly improve outcomes as demonstrated by rates of surgical intervention and in-hospital mortality.
Keywords: Low birth weight; Mortality; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Parenteral nutrition; Premature infant; Surgical NEC.
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