Addison's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Addison's Disease, including details on chronic adrenal insufficiency, treatment, causes, medication.

Gastrointestinal presentation of relative adrenal insufficiency in a sick preterm neonate.

Lavoie PM, Pelligra G, Lupton B, Osiovich H

Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

We report a sick preterm neonate with a dramatic ileus presentation mimicking necrotizing enterocolitis that promptly reversed upon hydrocortisone supplementation. Because our case illustrates a previously unsuspected clinical visage of inadequate adrenal responses in sick preterm neonates, it also emphasizes the need for improved diagnostic algorithms to identify neonates who could potentially benefit from treatment while avoiding the morbid consequences of unwarranted corticosteroids use in this population.

Published 25 September 2007 in Am J Perinatol, 24(8): 493-5.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Addison's Disease Research Today. All Rights Reserved.