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Background: The development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in neonates with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is not well-understood. Our aim was to find risk factors for NEC in children with a significant PDA and to assess differences in mortality and duration of hospital stay between patients with PDA and those with PDA and NEC. Methods: We performed a retrospective single center case control study including infants with PDA scheduled for treatment. We compared multiple patient data between patients with PDA and those with PDA and NEC from 2004 to 2018 using 1:2 and 1:1 matching. Results: We used 1:2 matching with 26 NEC patients (cases) and 52 PDA patients without NEC (controls) and 1:1 matching with 5 NEC patients and 5 PDA patients without NEC. NEC patients had lower Apgar score (1'), more congenital malformations, more suspected sepsis, less hypotension, higher minimum platelet count and higher CRP-values during the week before NEC ( P < 0.05, respectively). The mortality was higher in NEC cases [29% (9/31)] compared to the control patients [2% (1/57), P < 0.001]. Lower Apgar score (1') was correlated with an increased risk of NEC stage III. Hypotension was inversely correlated with the odds of NEC (OR 0.3). Conclusions: NEC increased mortality in infants with PDA. Hypotension did not increase the risk of NEC in infants with PDA. Routine clinical parameters were not able to predict NEC in infants who suffer from PDA., (Copyright © 2020 Haefeli, Kordasz, Tsai, Hau, Klimek, Cholewa, Pavlovic, Berger and Kessler.)

Background: Studies on the influence of congenital heart disease (CHD) on neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) have produced varied results. We therefore examined the influence of CHD on NEC outcomes. Methods: We carried out a retrospective single-center study including infants with confirmed NEC, treated between 2004 and 2017. We excluded patients with isolated patent ductus arteriosus or pulmonary hypertension ( n = 45) and compared outcomes of patients with hemodynamically relevant CHD ( n = 38) and those without CHD ( n = 91). Results: Patients with CHD were more mature than those without CHD [gestational age, median, 95% confidence interval (CI95), 37.1, 34.5-37.2w, vs. 32.6, 31.9-33.3w; P < 0.01]. The presence of CHD did not influence the frequencies of severe disease (overall 21% Bell stage III), nor surgical interventions (overall 30%), the occurrence of intestinal complications (overall 13%), nor the duration of hospitalization (overall 38 days in survivors). The overall mortality as well as NEC-related mortality was increased with the presence of CHD, being 50% (19 out of 38) and 13% (5 out of 38), respectively, when compared to patients without CHD, being 8% (7 out of 91) and 3% (3 out of 91). The presence of CHD and of advanced NEC stage III were independent predictors of NEC-associated fatalities with multivariable odds ratios (CI95) of 7.0, 1.3-39.5 for CHD, and of 3.4, 1.6-7.5 for stage III disease. Conclusions: While some outcome parameters in neonates with NEC remained unaffected by the presence of CHD, the mortality risk for patients with CHD was seven times higher than without CHD.