Differences in the clinical and radiologic patterns of rotavirus and non-rotavirus necrotizing enterocolitis

We analyzed retrospectively 32 successive infants who developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), 13 with rotavirus (RV) infection (RV+) and 19 RV-negative (RV-). All patients showed at least pneumatosis intestinalis. All patients except one had risk factors for perinatal asphyxia. Our study demonstrated significant differences between RV+ NEC and RV- NEC cases: RV+ NEC infants had a higher birth weight and were born at a later gestational age. Oral feeding was started earlier and symptoms developed later and more insidiously in RV+ patients than in RV- NEC babies. Radiology revealed a less severe and more distal colon involvement in RV+ NEC infants, whereas the RV- NEC patients mostly had small intestinal or ileocecal changes and more frequent complications of pneumoportogram and intestinal perforations. These latter infants often had a rapidly deteriorating clinical course; 84% needed surgical treatment. In conclusion RV may be a cause of NEC in susceptible infants. Historic and clinical data and a more distal colonic pneumatosis allow a differentiation of RV+ NEC from other forms of NEC.