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Not All Free Air In The Nicu Is Necrotizing Enterocolitis., Paul Holtrop, Paras Khandar, Nathan Novotny
Not All Free Air In The Nicu Is Necrotizing Enterocolitis., Paul Holtrop, Paras Khandar, Nathan Novotny
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When a tiny preterm baby in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has an intestinal perforation, it is always necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), right? Not so fast, my friend. Many of these preterm infants who perforate have free air from spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) and not NEC. As it turns out, not all free air in the NICU is NEC. How can you tell the difference and does it matter?
It can be challenging to tell the difference, but SIP tends to occur earlier in life, often within the first week, whereas NEC usually occurs slightly later. One analysis of a …