Bacterial Infections and Mycoses Commons^™

The Neurodevelopmental Perspective Of Surgical Necrotizing Enterocolitis: The Role Of The Gut-Brain Axis., Chariton Moschopoulos, Panagiotis Kratimenos, Ioannis Koutroulis, Bhairav V Shah, Anja Mowes, Vineet Bhandari

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

This state-of-the-art review article aims to highlight the most recent evidence about the therapeutic options of surgical necrotizing enterocolitis, focusing on the molecular basis of the gut-brain axis in relevance to the neurodevelopmental outcomes of primary peritoneal drainage and primary laparotomy. Current evidence favors primary laparotomy over primary peritoneal drainage as regards neurodevelopment in the surgical treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis. The added exposure to inhalational anesthesia in infants undergoing primary laparotomy is an additional confounding variable but requires further study. The concept of the gut-brain axis suggests that bowel injury initiates systemic inflammation potentially affecting the developing central nervous system. …