[Pathology of hemostasis in newborn infants. II].

Already in newborns almost all congenital and acquired disorders of hemostasis can be encountered. Especially gestational age and developmental peculiarities of hemostasis influence the incidence of the different causes for hemorrhages. Due to laboratory progress the well-known question of vitamin K deficiency and related bleeding has again become a point of interest and can be answered more clearly now than some years ago. Other significant disturbances of neonatal hemostasis are disseminated intravascular coagulation, intracranial hemorrhages, and the thrombocytopenias of the newborn. Disseminated intravascular coagulation is a pathogenetically important and frequent complication of numerous diseases in term as well as particularly in preterm infants. Ultrasonography gave new information about frequency and prognosis of intracranial hemorrhages in affected newborns. Finally, qualitative and quantitative disorders of the platelets present always a true challenge for the neonatologist in terms of differential diagnosis and differential therapy.