Abstract
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Increased Fecal Calprotectin in Preterm Infants with Necrotizing Enterocolitis
by Gokhan Aydemir, Ferhat Cekmez, I. Asya Tanju, Fuat Emre Canpolat, F.Alparslan Genc, Sukran Yildirim, Turan Tunc, S. Umit Sarici
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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.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2012.111214
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