Link to isoimmunization in ABO-incompatible, DAT-negative newborns unlikely.(Brief Article)

2002 OCT 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pediatric researchers caution that jaundice in certain newborns probably is not due to isoimmunization, as conventional wisdom has held.

"It is stated that the direct antiglobulin (Coombs') test (DAT) may be negative in ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn. Thus, significant jaundice in neonates who are A-B incompatible with their mothers but DAT test negative is often attributed to isoimmunization and another diagnosis is not sought," explained M. Herschel and colleagues, University of Chicago's Children's Hospital.

"We wished to determine the rate of bilirubin production, as an objective measure of hemolysis, in 2 groups of DAT-negative neonates-ABO-compatible and ABO-incompatible-and in DAT-positive ABO-incompatible neonates," the researchers said in their paper recently published in the journal Pediatrics (Isoimmunization is unlikely to be the cause of hemolysis in ABO-incompatible but direct antiglobulin test-negative neonates. Pediatrics, 2002;110(1):127-130).

"In consecutive, term, healthy newborns who were admitted to the general care nursery, we measured the level in parts per million (ppm) of end-tidal breath carbon monoxide (CO), corrected for inspired CO (ETCOc), an index of the rate of bilirubin production. We compared the levels in DAT-negative ABO-incompatible neonates with those in ABO-compatible neonates and with the levels in DAT-positive ABO-incompatible neonates. Statistical analysis was performed using ...