Abstract
For pregnant and nursing women who were screened for irregular antibodies at our center, the kinds of irregular antibodies, incidence of hemolytic disease of the newborn, and its treatment (fetal transfusion, exchange transfusion, neonatal transfusion, phototherapy, and immunoglobulin therapy) were tabulated and analyzed.
A total of 13,902 serum samples were screened for irregular antibodies between February 2003 and July 2011. Of these samples, 279 (2.0%) were positive for irregular antibodies (excluding cold antibodies). Eighty-nine (1.1%) of 8,251 women had irregular antibodies: 47 (52.8%), 19 (21.3%), 15 (16.9%), and 8 (9.0%) had antibodies to Rh, MNSs, other, and unidentified antigens, respectively. Of the 83 infants of these women, 21 (25.3%) required treatment, and 10 (12.0%) received fetal, exchange, or neonatal transfusion. The rate of treatment was significantly higher in the infants of mothers with anti-D antibodies or anti-Rh complex antibodies than in those of mothers with other irregular antibodies. In addition, the former group of infants more frequently required blood transfusion. The infants of mothers with anti-M or anti-Jra antibodies had severe hemolytic disease.
