Posterior urethral stenosis in newborn with renal nonfunction syndrome.

A newborn male infant presented with the "renal nonfunction syndrome" and subsequently was found at autopsy to have congenital stenosis of the posterior urethra. Additional urinary tract malformations included a prostatic diverticulum, bladder hypertrophy, bilateral hydroureter, and bilateral renal hypoplasia with dysplasia. Autopsy evidence suggested that the urethral stenosis had manifested itself very early during embryologic development and accounted for the associated urinary anomalies. The infant had the physical stigmata, clinical course, and pulmonary hypoplasia commonly observed in "Potter's" or the "renal nonfunction syndrome."

Relationships of mesenteric thromboembolism, oral feeding, and necrotizing enterocolitis.

Mesenteric blood vessels were examined in postmortem specimens of 30 selected infants. The infants had had necrotizing enterocolitis (16 cases) or other lesions (14 cases). Mesenteric thromboemboli were observed in 12 of the infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (P less than 0.001). Umbilical vessel catheters were apparently responsible for the emboli. Multiple instances of thrombosis and thromboembolism were detected in other organs. Ninety-four percent of infants with necrotizing enterocolitis were orally fed (P less than 0.001). Mesenteric thromboemboli were more frequent in infants who were fed via the digestive route while an umbilical arterial catheter was in place. Mesenteric thromboembolism in these infants was postulated to have been attributable to increased postprandial blood flow in the mesenteric vessels.