Gastrointestinal sequelae after surgery for necrotising enterocolitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To document what types of gastrointestinal sequelae were described after surgery for necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and to analyse their frequency.

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane library (CENTRAL) from 1990 to October 2016.

We included studies, which provided original data on the occurrence of gastrointestinal sequelae in patients surviving surgery for NEC. Meta-analysis and metaregression to assess heterogeneity were performed for studies including 10 or more patients with gastrointestinal strictures, recurrence of NEC, intestinal failure (IF) and adhesion ileus.

Altogether 58 studies, including 4260 patients, met the inclusion criteria. Strictures were reported to occur in 24% (95% CI 17% to 31%) of surviving patients, recurrence of NEC in 8% (95% CI 3% to 15%), IF in 13% (95% CI 7% to 19%) and adhesion ileus in 6% (95% CI 4% to 9%). Strictures were more common following enterostomy (30%; 95% CI 23% to 37%) than after primary anastomosis (8%; 95% CI 0% to 23%) and occurred more often after enterostomy without bowel resection than with bowel resection. We found considerable heterogeneity in the weighted average frequency of all sequelae (I² range: 38%-90%). Intestinal outcomes were poorly defined, there were important differences in study populations and designs, and the reported findings bear a substantial risk of bias.

Gastrointestinal sequelae in neonates surviving surgery for NEC are frequent. Long-term follow-up assessing defined gastrointestinal outcomes is warranted.