Abstract
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common severe gastrointestinal emergency that affects premature newborns. This disease often has a rapid onset with few, if any, antecedent signs that can be used to reliably predict its occurrence. Its rapid onset and progression to death, as well as its severe morbidity when the infant survives, begs for early diagnostic tools that may be used in determining those infants who would be at greatest risk for development of the disease and for whom early preventative measures could be targeted. Although studies have suggested efficacy of several techniques such as breath hydrogen, inflammatory mediators in blood, urine or stool, and genetic markers, these all have drawbacks limiting their use. The application of newly developed “omic” approaches may provide biomarkers for early diagnosis and targeted prevention of this disease.
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Abbreviations
- CRP:
-
C-reactive protein
- GI:
-
gastrointestinal
- I-FABP:
-
intestinal fatty acid binding protein
- IGF-1:
-
Insulin-like growth factor 1
- NEC:
-
necrotizing enterocolitis
- SNP:
-
single-nucleotide polymorphism
- VLBW:
-
very low birth weight
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Supported in part by the National Institute of Child Health grant number R01 HD 059143 and an educational grant to M. Mshvildadge from the European Society for Pediatric Research.
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Young, C., Sharma, R., Handfield, M. et al. Biomarkers for Infants at Risk for Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Clues to Prevention?. Pediatr Res 65, 91–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e31819dba7d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e31819dba7d
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