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Necrotising Enterocolitis

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Rickham's Neonatal Surgery

Abstract

Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating disease of infants and the commonest gastrointestinal emergency in the newborn period. It is a condition characterised by intestinal necrosis affecting the ileum and/or colon. There is a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. In the least severe cases there may be mild inflammation of the intestinal wall in a baby with mild abdominal distension and minimal systemic upset. The most severely affected cases, however, may show evidence of full thickness intestinal necrosis with perforation, respiratory and cardiovascular collapse, multi-system organ failure and in some cases death

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Surgery Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Nigel J. Hall PhD, MRCPCH, FRCS(Paed)

  2. Developmental Biology and Cancer Programme, UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, London, UK

    Simon Eaton PhD

  3. Division of General and Thoracic Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Agostino Pierro MD, FRCS(Eng), OBE

Authors
  1. Nigel J. Hall PhD, MRCPCH, FRCS(Paed)
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  2. Simon Eaton PhD
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  3. Agostino Pierro MD, FRCS(Eng), OBE
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nigel J. Hall PhD, MRCPCH, FRCS(Paed) .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child Health, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Paul D. Losty

  2. University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan W. Flake

  3. Childrens Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Risto J. Rintala

  4. Royal Children’s Hospital, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    John M. Hutson

  5. Department of Surgery, Meiji University of Integrative Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

    Naomi lwai

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Hall, N.J., Eaton, S., Pierro, A. (2018). Necrotising Enterocolitis. In: Losty, P., Flake, A., Rintala, R., Hutson, J., lwai, N. (eds) Rickham's Neonatal Surgery. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4721-3_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4721-3_38

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