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Chapter 15 - Fetal Haemolysis

from Section 3 - Fetal Medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2021

By
Manjiri Khare  and
Ganga Verma
Edited by
Tahir Mahmood ,
Charles Savona Ventura ,
Ioannis Messinis  and
Sambit Mukhopadhyay
Tahir Mahmood
Affiliation:
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Charles Savona Ventura
Affiliation:
University of Malta, Malta
Ioannis Messinis
Affiliation:
University of Thessaly, Greece
Sambit Mukhopadhyay
Affiliation:
Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, UK
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Summary

Fetal haemolysis results from the breakdown of red blood cells secondary to immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies that pass from the mother through to the fetus resulting in anaemia and fetal hydrops which may result in intrauterine fetal death [1]. Fetal haemolysis is also known as haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and erythroblastosis fetalis. Historically, fetal haemolysis was almost synonymous with rhesus D (RhD) alloimmunization and was common until the late 1960s. Since crossmatching red blood cell transfusions for RhD and introduction of routine anti-D immunoglobin (anti-D Ig) prophylaxis in the 1970s, the spectrum of haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn has changed dramatically [2].

Type
Chapter
Information
The EBCOG Postgraduate Textbook of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Obstetrics & Maternal-Fetal Medicine
 , pp. 122 - 129
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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