With collaboration of Dr. Lucky Jain, Consulting Editor, Dr. Caplan has assembled articles devoted to the most current clinical advances in necrotizing enterocolitis. He has invited expert authors from top institutions to contribute timely reviews on the following topics: Biomarker Discovery: New markers that improve early diagnostic capability; Probiotics: State of the art; NEC Pathophysiology: How microbiome data alters our understanding; Effect of Human Milk on NEC; Influence of Growth Factors on the Development of NEC; Can Fish Oil Reduce the Incidence of NEC by Altering the Inflammatory Response; Oral Mother's Milk: State of the art and influence on NEC; Does Surgical Management Alter the Outcome of NEC; Epidemiology of NEC: New considerations and influence of PRBC transfusions and anemia; Role of Abdominal Ultrasound in Diagnosis of NEC; and Modifiable Risk Factors in NEC: 2018. Readers will come away with the scientific and medical information they need to make clinical decisions to improve patient outcomes.

Necrotizing enterocolitis is an acute inflammatory necrosis of bowel that primarily afflicts premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit setting. Although patients who develop this disease have high morbidity and mortality rates, the pathogenesis is poorly understood, and therefore there are no specific preventive or treatment strategies that have been clearly effective. Recent studies have suggested that the pathophysiology of necrotizing enterocolitis includes alterations in the inflammatory response leading to dysregulated pro-inflammatory signaling in premature infants, as well as abnormal intestinal bacterial colonization patterns that can activate these inflammatory pathways, and these factors are discussed in depth in the following chapters. While human milk feedings are currently the standard of care for the prevention of this challenging condition, new approaches will be described based on sound evidence that might have a significant impact for premature infants throughout the world.