Increased Fecal Calprotectin in Preterm Infants with Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Abstract

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. 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. We found that infants with necrotizing enterocolitis had increased fecal calprotectin concentrations, and there was a correlation between calprotectin concentrations and severity of NEC. We concluded that fecal calprotectin is a useful marker for diagnosis and severity of NEC in preterm infants.