Value of abdominal ultrasonography in predicting intestinal resection for premature infants with necrotizing enterocolitis

Abstract Background Abdominal ultrasonography (AUS) has been suggested to be valuable in the early detection of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Objective Here, we intended to assess the efficiency of abdominal ultrasound in terms of predicting bowel resection in infants with NEC. Methods From January 2018 to March 2021, 164 hospitalized children with NEC who underwent surgical management were enrolled. The enrolled infants were separated into two groups according to whether they underwent bowel resection. We reviewed the clinical data, as well as dynamic sonographic and abdominal radiographic (AR) parameters. The potential performance of AUS parameters was identified and compared with that of AR using a logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results Several parameters were detected to be statistically significant in predicting the occurrence of bowel resection, including thick to thin transformation [p