No pediatrician with responsibility for the care of newborn infants, premature or full term, can fail to be interested in the syndrome of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis. The recent outpouring of reports concerning the disease attests not only to the growing recognition of the problem but also the immediacy of the challenge which it presents. The challenge is twofold, demanding clinical diagnosis of the disease at an early stage as well as study directed toward the elucidation of its etiology and pathogenesis.
The most quoted articles from the European literature are Genersich's1 original case report in 1891, the series of 62 cases described by Willi2 in 1944, and the series reported by Rossier, et al.3 in 1959.
Hepatic portal venous gas without definite clinical manifestations of necrotizing enterocolitis in a 3-day-old full-term neonate: A case report