Role of Urinary Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein in Prediction of Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Its Correlation with GutCheck Score

Abstract

ecrotizing enterocoitis is the most common surgical emergency among preterm neonates with high incidence of mortality and morbidity occurring in approximately 7% of NICU admitted preterm neonates with mortality reaching up to 100% in late cases with intestinal perforation. Pathogenesis and risk factors are not completely understood, however it is strongly associated with prematurity. Early diagnosis of NEC plays a fundamental role in management which includes gastric decompression and aggressive antibiotic therapy, yet it remains challenging due to lack of specific biomarkers, subtle and non-specific early manifestations. u-IFABP is one of the most promising specific biomarkers as its level markedly increases with intestinal damage associated with NEC and can be measured non-invasively in urine, Similarly GutCheck NEC is a useful tool can be used to predict the liability for NEC development in preterm babies. This study included 50 preterm neonates 25 NEC cases (preterm babies 27:33 weeks with feeding intolerance stage 1 bell with exclusion of babies with GIT anomaly, previous abdominal surgery or acute kidney injury) and 25 controls (free of the disease, age and sex matching with cases).