Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association
-
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)
-
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.
-
The spun hematocrit is a common screening test performed on normal newborn infants to determine anemia, and more commonly, polycythemia. Recently, the hemoglobin value obtained from the HemoCue system (HemoCue Inc.; Mission Viejo, Calif.) has gained popularity in the adult and outpatient pediatric population to screen blood for anemia. Although the machine is not in widespread use in hospitals, it is being used in blood banks and physician offices. ⋯ The hemoglobin was consistently one third the value of the hematocrit. There was a significant and systematic difference between the values obtained with the HemoCue in the nursery and the laboratory hematology analyzer. The HemoCue readings were slightly lower in all cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)