Neonatal small left colon syndrome. Occurrence in asymptomatic infants of diabetic mothers.

An unusually high incidence (40%) of maternal diabetes was observed in a series of 20 newborn infants who had low colonic obstruction and barium enema findings of a uniformly narrowed colon from the splenic flexure to the anus. This has been termed the "neonatal small left colon syndrome." We investigated the incidence of this colon configuration in gastrointestinally asymptomatic infants of diabetic mothers. Of 12 such infants examined by barium enema, six have shown this same narrowing of the left colon. The relationship of maternal diabetes to the small left colon is not yet clearly understood.