[Postnatal primary therapy of Morbus haemolyticus neonatorum in prematurely born infants, following intra-uterine foetal transfusion (author's transl)].

Intra-uterine foetal transfusion was applied in 63 instances to 44 patients with severe Rh incompatibility in the authors' hospital, between 1967 and 1976. Eighteen of 29 live-born children survived the neonatal period (41 per cent). - Nineteen live-born children with most severe M. h. n. received substitutions of O (d)-erythrocytes, immediately after birth. Ten children with moderate M. h. n. received exchange transfusions in a premature-birth ward not until four hours on average had elapsed from birth. - Comparison between the two groups would provide little consistent information on the effectiveness of such primary therapy, because of difference in severity. - The conclusion drawn by the authors is that the rare cases of severe M. h. n. should be transferred for treatment to a national therapeutic centre where adequate personnel and equipment are available for optimum intra-uterine or early postnatal treatment.