Pancreatic exocrine function and necrotising enterocolitis

Pancreatic Exocrine Failure in Cystic Fibrosis Presenting as Necrotising Enteritis

“…Interestingly, in a study of preterm infants , not onl y were growth-retarded infan ts (those at increased risk of developing necr otising enterocolitis) found to have significantly lower faecal chymotry psin conce ntra tions than appropriate ly grown infants , but also subnormal faec al ch ymotr yp sin concentra tions preced ed the clinic al on set of necrotising enterocolitis in two cases (13). A prospective study in infants < I ,500 g birth we ight showed lower fae cal chymot rypsin over the first 3 wee ks of life in nine infa nts who later develop ed necroti sing enterocolitis , co mpared with nine gestational age-matched co ntro ls, although the difference was not statistically significa nt (14).…”

Intrauterine growth restriction, visceral blood flow velocity and exocrine pancreatic function

“…Faecal chymotrypsin is a simple, inexpensive and non-invasive assay that gives a quantitative measure of pancreatic secretory capacity in the preterm newborn. Studies in human neonates have shown a reduction in faecal chymotrypsin (a measure of exocrine pancreatic function [ 10 ]) in growth restricted preterm babies compared to appropriately grown preterm babies [ 11 ] However, in a case control study of 9 preterm babies who later developed NEC, Wood et al found no difference in neonatal stool chymotrypsin levels between cases and controls matched for gestation and birth weight [ 12 ]. Growth restricted babies with lower faecal chymotrypsin levels in early life also had impaired catch up growth at 6 months of life [ 13 ].…”