Foetal Haemoglobin in Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn

Abstract

Determination of fetal hemoglobin in the cord blood samples of 37 in-fants suffering from hemolytic disease and comparing them with normal infants of similar gestational age has shown the following: (1) an increased proportion of Hb-A in the affected infants which is related to the severity of the disease, (2) a decrease in the concentration of Hb-F which is related to the total haemoglobin concentration; (3) an increase in the concentration of Hb-A which is poorly correlated with total hemoglobin concentrations. These effects are present from the 35th week of gestation. An explanation of these findings is offered suggesting that they are the expected results of hemolysis and increased erythropoiesis at a time when there is regularly increasing biosynthesis of the Hb-A fraction.