Clinical and Surgical Aspects in Necrotizing Enterocolitis
R.N. Balanescu, L. Topor, G.C. DraganOriginal article, no. 2, 2013
Background: The purpose of the paper is to establish whether
clinical and radiological parameters can predict the progression of the pathology, the necessity of performing laparotomy for
patients with peritoneal drain and the mortality in surgically
treated neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis patients.
Material and Methods: A number of 51 cases with necrotizing
enterocolitis from our institution were reviewed (from 2005
to 2011) and information on patient demographics and data
about the clinical and radiological parameters was collected.
Results: Of the 51 patients, 29 were (56.8%) males and 22
(43.2%) females. Age at presentation ranges between 1 and 87
days, with a mean 18.71 days. Birth weight varies between 400-
4700g (mean 1979.6 g ± 1012.5). The mortality rate in our
study was 45% (23 patients out of 51).
Conclusions: The mortality rate in our series was 45%. Even
though Bell stage III patients have clear indications for surgery,
the procedure involves high fatality. Patients who undergo
surgery are more likely to die than the ones who do not. We
found that a later debut of symptoms should be an alarm sign
for both the severity of the condition and for its outcome.



