Increased Fecal Calprotectin in Preterm Infants with Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Necrotizing entrocolitis (NEC) remains a potentially fatal disease in premature infants despite the recent advances in neonatal care. It is a disease with a multifactorial etiology leading to the one common final pathway of necrosis and inflammmation of the neonatal intestine. METHODS: Calprotectin is a calcium and zinc-binding protein in human neutrophils. Its concentration rises in various organic bowel diseases in adults and is resistant to degradation and has been proposed as a useful, simple, and rapid diagnostic method of inflammatory bowel disease that shows gastrointestinal inflammation in children and adults. RESULTS: We found that infants with necrotizing enterocolitis had increased fecal calprotectin concentrations, and there was a correlation between calprotectin concentrations and severity of NEC. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that fecal calprotectin is a useful marker for diagnosis and severity of NEC in preterm infants.