Infarcts appear in the same sites as the hemorrhages. The hemorrhages of the digestive tract are next in importance to those of the brain. In small prematures, dying shortly after birth, one often finds hemorrhages scattered throughout the entire tract. In the deeper portions of the intestines, hemorrhages occur infrequently about the ileo-cecal valve and in the mucosa of the large bowel. These hemorrhages appear chiefly under the epithelial cells in the tunica propria.
Blood often appears in the bowel lumen after rupture of the mucosa.
These hemorrhages in extra-uterine life are important only insofar as they predispose to infection, which readily occurs. As a result, within one and a half days prematures may show a marked mucous membrane necrosis and peritonitis. Inflammatory processes within the digestive tract, especially in the esophagus and duodenal mucosa are also common. From the inflamed intestinal mucosa, bacteria easily invade the blood, with a following general sepsis. The mucosa of the stomach is frequently involved in the septic processes of the prematurely born, especially in their early days of life.