Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association
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Our objective was to determine the incidence of blood administration after cesarean delivery and whether such transfusions are always beneficial. In this retrospective study 1610 women underwent cesarean delivery during a 2-year period and 127 of these patients had hemorrhage during or after operation. Of these subjects 103 received blood because of intraoperative hemorrhage, a reduction in the hematocrit of more than 10 points, or because the postoperative hematocrit was < 24%. ⋯ Patients in the transfused group received a mean of 3.8 +/- 4.9 units of packed red blood cells, with a range of 1 to 40 units. The mean equilibrated (stable) hematocrit after transfusion was 28.4% +/- 5.4%, which was significantly greater than the mean equilibrated postoperative hematocrit of 22.7% +/- 4.6% in patients who did not receive transfusion (p < 0.0001). Nonetheless, the hospital stay, incidence of postoperative infection, and incidence of wound complications were similar in the two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Neonatal hypocalcemia secondary to maternal hypercalcemia is relatively rare. We describe two infants with hypocalcemia and generalized seizures at 2 weeks and at 5 days of age, respectively. ⋯ In the second case the infant was a member of a kindred with familial benign hypercalcemia. The evaluation of late-onset neonatal hypocalcemia should include an evaluation of maternal hyperparathyroidism and, in some cases, an evaluation for familial calcium disorders.