Pain points and perspectives:Advancing pain management in preterm infants with necrotizing enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a life-threatening gastrointestinal disease that mainly affects very preterm infants. NEC causes severe visceral pain, making effective analgesic therapy essential to prevent short- and long-term adverse effects of pain early in life. However, research into optimal pain management for infants with NEC is scarce. This thesis addresses this critical research gap, focusing on three domains: (1) current pain management practices for infants with NEC, (2) consequences of insufficiently treated pain in infancy, and (3) future perspectives for improving pain management for infants with NEC. This thesis identifies pain points as well as opportunities to improve pain assessment and pain treatment in these vulnerable infants.