A screening and intervention program aimed to reduce mortality and serious morbidity associated with severe neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia

Blood. 2007 Aug 1;110(3):833-9. doi: 10.1182/blood-2006-08-040121. Epub 2007 Apr 11.

Abstract

The study's objective was to identify HPA 1a-negative women and to offer them an intervention program aimed to reduce morbidity and mortality of neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT). HPA 1 typing was performed in 100 448 pregnant women. The HPA 1a-negative women were screened for anti-HPA 1a. In immunized women, delivery was performed by Cesarean section 2 to 4 weeks prior to term, with platelets from HPA 1a-negative donors reserved for immediate transfusion if petechiae were present and/or if platelet count was less than 35 x 10(9)/L. Of the women screened, 2.1% were HPA 1a negative, and anti-HPA 1a was detected in 10.6% of these. One hundred seventy pregnancies were managed according to the intervention program, resulting in 161 HPA 1a-positive children. Of these, 55 had severe thrombocytopenia (< 50 x 10(9)/L), including 2 with intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). One woman with a twin pregnancy missed the follow-up and had one stillborn and one severely thrombocytopenic live child. In 15 previous prospective studies (136 814 women) there were 51 cases of severe NAIT (3 intrauterine deaths and 7 with ICH). Acknowledging the limitation of comparing with historic controls, implementation of our screening and intervention program seemed to reduce the number of cases of severe NAIT-related complications from 10 of 51 to 3 of 57.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antigens, Human Platelet / blood*
  • Antigens, Human Platelet / immunology
  • Blood Grouping and Crossmatching
  • Blood Transfusion
  • Cesarean Section
  • Female
  • Fetal Death / blood
  • Fetal Death / immunology
  • Fetal Death / prevention & control
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Immunization
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Newborn, Diseases / blood*
  • Infant, Newborn, Diseases / immunology
  • Infant, Newborn, Diseases / mortality
  • Infant, Newborn, Diseases / prevention & control*
  • Integrin beta3
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / blood
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / immunology
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / mortality
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / prevention & control
  • Male
  • Neonatal Screening*
  • Platelet Count
  • Pregnancy
  • Stillbirth
  • Thrombocytopenia / blood*
  • Thrombocytopenia / immunology
  • Thrombocytopenia / mortality
  • Thrombocytopenia / prevention & control*

Substances

  • Antigens, Human Platelet
  • ITGB3 protein, human
  • Integrin beta3