Dysbiotic Microbiota in Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Insights into Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory intestinal disease occurring primarily in infants born prematurely. The etiology is multifactorial and the clinical presentation is nonspecific. Due to the heterogeneity of disease and complexity of the physiology of preterm infants, decades of research have not yielded high-quality diagnostic or treatment strategies. This has translated into a failure to improve outcomes. Prevailing dogma supports a role for intestinal microbial dysbiosis in NEC pathogenesis, and as such, broad-spectrum antibiotics are central to treatment. The specific role of intestinal microbes and how modulation of the microbiome can influence disease remain an area of intensive research.