Necrotising enterocolitis of the newborn--is it gas-gangrene of the bowel?

Necrotising enterocolitis (N.E.C.) of the newborn is thought to be caused by ischaemia of the bowel. This would favour the conversion of clostridial spores, which can occur very early in the intestinal tract of newborns, to toxin-producing, invading bacilli. The histology of resected gut specimens from 6 of 7 N.E.C. patients who had undergone operation was similar to that in cases of gas-gangrene of the bowel and that in experimentally provoked pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis. In one case Clostridium perfringens type A was cultured in great number by anaerobic technique. The clostridia in these cases may have played an important role in the development of N.E.C.