Feasibility Study of The Paediatric Directional Flow Appliance for Chyme Reinfusion

Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe disease primarily affecting premature infants, where a portion of the bowel loses its blood supply and dies. The cause is unclear but involves a combination of inadequate intestinal perfusion and infection. Approximately 7% of premature infants are affected by NEC. NEC diagnosis typically occurs within four weeks of birth, and up to 1 in 4 of these babies will die.

Surgery is nearly always required to remove the diseased portion of the gut. Premature babies are small, making surgery difficult. During this operation, it is not safe to join the ends of the remaining bowel, so a stoma is created. Stoma formation involves bringing two ends of the bowel out through the abdominal wall and sewing them to the skin. In this way, contents from the gut flow into an external bag.

After surgery, these infants are cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Patients confined to the NICU lose nutrition into their stoma bag, requiring intensive nutritional support. The cost of care is expensive, and hospitalisation can last weeks. Long-term hospitalisation at this stage of development puts premature infants at risk for other complications.

Researchers have developed a device that easily allows for the refeeding of digestive contents (chyme), from the stoma bag, back into the gut. Refeeding chyme can help to reduce the length of hospitalisation, aid in growth and nutritional intake, reduce morbidity, and improve surgical recovery.