A New Complication of Nutritional Management of the Low-Birth-Weight Infant
1 Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine 1100 West Michigan Street Indianapolis, IN 46223
The important article by Erenberg et al (p 642) demonstrates a dramatic increase in the incidence of lactobezoars in low-birth-weight (LBW) infants at their institution. We have experienced a similar rise in the number of infants with lactobezoars in our newborn intensive care unit. During the past two years there were 12 infants with this complication in contrast to the previous four-year period, when only one infant had this condition. The characteristic clinical findings in our patients were quite similar to those reported by Erenberg and colleagues. All the infants were prematurely born, and only three had birth weights greater than 1,500 gm.




