Analysis of the association between necrotizing enterocolitis and transfusion of red blood cell in very low birth weight preterm infants

Bak, Seon-Yeong; Lee, Sihyoung; Park, Jae-Hong; Park, Kyu-Hee; Jeon, Ji-Hyun

The etiology and pathogenesis of NEC is not clearly understood 20) , but it is known to be a complex, multifactorial disease 21, 22) . According to a recent reports transfusion increase the risk for NEC 7) , and the NEC mechanism is related to a recent exposure to transfusions. The latest hypotheses as to why packed RBC(t) increases the risk of NEC suggest that stored RBCs decrease nitric oxide 23) and a packed RBC(t) increases the intestinal immune response 24) . In this study, GA and B.wt were not different between the NEC and control groups, but in the univariate logistic regression, the risk for NEC decreased significantly the higher the GA, B.wt, and Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. Higher PDA incidences also tended to increase NEC risk, but the difference was not significant. The number of patients in the NEC group who were diagnosed within 48 hours of a transfusion was 14 and after 48 hours the number was two. Only two patients with NEC did not receive a transfu sion their GA were 31 and 30 weeks and their Apgar scores at 1 minute were 1 point and 0 points. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was carried out on these infants. The Apgar score at 5 minutes recovered to 5 points for both and the infants recovered with conservative therapy after the NEC diagnosis.