Anemia of Prematurity - Portal Neonatal

Prognosis:
• Most survivors of alloimmunized gestation are intact neurologically. However, Janssens and
colleagues have reported neurologic abnormality to be closely associated with severity of
anemia and perinatal asphyxia.
MISCELLANEOUS Section 9 of 11
Medical/Legal Pitfalls:
• Failure to provide RhIG therapy to an Rh-negative woman resulting in maternal
alloimmunization and affecting the outcome of her future offspring has a very high potential for
medicolegal litigation. This warrants that significant attention should be paid to blood type and
Rh status of every pregnant woman beginning at the first prenatal visit.
• Explain in detail to every parent the risk of adverse outcome of an alloimmunized gestation
irrespective of its severity, including fetal loss, prematurity, brain injury, risk of bilirubin
encephalopathy, and subsequent CP.
PICTURES Section 10 of 11
Picture 1. Hemolytic disease of newborn. Liley curve. This graph illustrates an example of amniotic
fluid spectrophotometric reading of 0.206, which when plotted at 35 weeks' gestation falls into zone
3, indicating severe hemolytic disease.
Picture 2. Hemolytic disease of newborn. Modified Liley curve for gestation of less than 24 weeks
showing that bilirubin levels in amniotic fluid peak at 23-24 weeks' gestation.