Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most
common gastrointestinal (GI) emergency in
neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), making it one of the leading causes of long-term disability in preterm infants. NEC is called ‘the disease of survivors’ as it is characteristically manifest in preterm infants, who have survived other immediate life-threatening complications associated with their very low birth weights (,1500 g), such as respiratory distress syndrome and congenital cardiac anomalies.