Normal Anion-Gap Metabolic Acidosis in an Extremely Preterm Neonate.

Abstract

Extremely preterm neonates (< 28 wk) are at risk of metabolic complications like hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia, hyponatremia, and metabolic acidosis. Many of these complications are often the result of prematurity per se, while some of them may be the result of prolonged parenteral nutrition. Most of the complications occur in the initial few weeks of hospital stay, but hyponatremia, hypocalcemia, and hypophosphatemia may persist for longer periods of time. Optimizing enteral nutrition along with fortification helps in promoting optimal growth and overcoming the aforementioned problems. The authors report one such extremely preterm neonate with hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis, the cause of which is uncommon and not reported previously in the literature.