Oral gentamicin therapy in the prevention of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis. A controlled double-blind trial
L. J. Grylack and J. W. Scanlon
The value of prophylactic oral gentamicin sulfate therapy in the prevention
of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) was evaluated in a group of 42 high-risk
neonates over a four-month period in a randomized, double-blind controlled
trial. Twenty babies in the treatment group received 2.5 mg/kg of
gentamicin sulfate every six hours for one week after birth, and 22 babies
received dextrose-and-water placebo in an equivalently small volume. None
of the 20 gentamicin-treated babies developed NEC. Four of the control
babies did. Two of these babies died, and their diagnosis was
pathologically confirmed. This difference in the incidence of NEC between
the treatment and control group was significant at the .05 level. These
results support the prophylactic use of orally given gentamicin for
selected babies at high risk for NEC, particularly those born prematurely
and those who have a history of perinatal asphyxia or umbilical artery
catheterization or both. Continued surveillance for changes in
antimicrobial sensitivity patterns is recommended.
