Could Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) be the new weapon in our fight against Necrotising Enterocolitis?

Claire Howarth; Jayanta Banerjee; Terence Leung; Narendra Aladangady

doi:10.3389/fped.2022.1024566

Could Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) be the new weapon in our fight against Necrotising Enterocolitis?

Front Pediatr. 2022 Nov 8:10:1024566. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.1024566. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Claire Howarth¹, Jayanta Banerjee², Terence Leung³, Narendra Aladangady^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Neonatal Unit, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
² Neonatal Unit, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

There is no ideal single gut tissue or inflammatory biomarker available to help to try and identify Necrotising Enterocolitis (NEC) before its clinical onset. Neonatologists are all too familiar with the devastating consequences of NEC, and despite many advances in neonatal care the mortality and morbidity associated with NEC remains significant. In this article we review Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a method of measuring regional gut tissue oxygenation. We discuss its current and potential future applications, including considering its effectiveness as a possible new weapon in the early identification of NEC.

Keywords: NEC; NIRS; biomarker; gut oxygenation; ischaemia; regional oxygenation; tissue injury.

Publication types

Review