Does routine monitoring of stomach aspirates (partially dige | Figure 1
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Post in Neonatology
Does routine monitoring of stomach aspirates (partially digested milk and gut hormones withdrawn from the feeding tube) avoid necrotising enterocolitis in premature babies?
Key messages
Necrotising enterocolitis is a serious intestinal disease in premature babies that causes damage and death of gut tissue and may result in a hole in the intestine.
Routine monitoring of stomach aspirates to decide on feeding in premature babies probably has little or no effect on the risk of necrotising enterocolitis.
Monitoring stomach aspirates probably increases the time taken to reach full feeds, duration of parenteral nutrition (feeding through a vein), and the risk of infections. It may increase the time taken to regain birth weight and feed interruption episodes (time frames when feeds are stopped temporarily) in premature babies. The effect of stomach aspirates monitoring on other important outcomes is uncertain.
There is uncertainty whether using two different criteria of stomach aspirates to interrupt feeds has an effect on important outcomes in preterm infants.
What did we want to find out?
We wanted to look for evidence from studies that assessed whether routine monitoring of stomach aspirates is beneficial or harmful in premature babies.
What did we find?
We included five studies (423 babies) in this review.
We found four studies on 336 premature babies that compared routine monitoring versus no monitoring of stomach aspirates in premature babies. We found one study comparing the usage of two different sets of criteria based on quantity and quality of stomach aspirates to decide on interrupting feeds while monitoring stomach aspirates.
What are the limitations of the evidence?
We are moderately confident about the evidence on the effect of monitoring stomach aspirates on outcomes such as necrotising enterocolitis, risk of infections, time taken to reach full feeds, and duration of parenteral nutrition.