Does the colon play a role in intestinal adaptation in infants with short bowel syndrome? A multiple variable analysis

Purpose: We sought to examine in a multiple variable model the impact of residual colonic length on time to intestinal adaptation in a cohort of infants with short bowel syndrome.

Method: Infants with a surgical diagnosis of short bowel syndrome who underwent operation 90 days or younger were included in this analysis. Univariate Cox proportional hazards models for time to full-enteral feeds were developed. Predictors significant at the .2 level were entered into a stepwise multiple variable Cox proportional hazards model.

Results: A total of 106 infants were included in the cohort (70 adapted). Predictors meeting the criteria for the multiple variable model were as follows: multidisciplinary management (P = .045), Serial Transverse Enteroplasty Procedure (P = .057), percent small bowel (P < .001), percent large bowel (P < .001), preserved ileocecal valve (P = .001), number of septic (P < .001), and central line complications (P < .001). The final model included the following: multidisciplinary management (hazard ratio [HR], 1.932; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.137-3.281), percent small bowel (HR, 1.028; 95% CI, 1.02-1.04), and septic events (HR, 0.695; 95% CI, 0.6-0.805).

Conclusions: The colon does not seem to play a significant role in intestinal adaptation. However, in addition to highlighting the importance of residual small bowel length, our model highlights the benefit of multidisciplinary intestinal rehabilitation and reduction of septic complications in achieving intestinal adaptation.