Vacuum-assisted closure: a novel method of managing surgical necrotizing enterocolitis.

Purpose: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) requiring surgical intervention is associated with mortality rates approaching 50%. We evaluated outcomes of patients that underwent surgical treatment for NEC with vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) of the abdomen as compared with traditional laparotomy, bowel resection, and ostomy creation.

Methods: A retrospective review identified 26 patients from 2007 to 2012 with NEC.

An assessment by calorimetric calculations of the potential thermal benefit of warming and humidification of insufflated carbon dioxide.

Heat transfer from a patient to warm and humidify insufflated carbon dioxide (CO2) during laparoscopic surgery may contribute to perioperative hypothermia. The magnitude of this effect was calculated using calorimetric calculations. Warming to 37°C and humidifying to 100%, each 100 L of insufflated CO2 would prevent a heat transfer of 3220 calories, which would result in a decrease of temperature by 0.