Summary: A controlled clinical trial was carried out to test the effectiveness of a comparatively low dose of anti-D immunoglobulin (250 pg) in preventing rhesus immunization.In the control group 17 out of 329 women (5%) formed rhesus antibodies, whereas in the treated group only 3 out of 333 women (0.9%) showed active immunization, all three of whom had an exceptionally large transplacental bleeding.
Factor-VIII enriched cryoprecipitate was prepared by exercising donors on a bicycle ergometer. The mean increase in the activity of factor VIII was about 40%. The effect in vivo of post-exercise cryoprccipitate was studied in patients with haemophilia A. The increment of factor VIII was only perceptible during the first hours after transfusion. This was due to a more rapid disappearance of factor VIII from the circulation, as was apparent by a shortened half-survival time of the first phase of the biphasic disappearance curve.
Absrracr. 35 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 13 patients with other lymphomas and 26 control subjects have been typed for 8 HL-A antigens.The frequency of HL-A8 and HL-A7 was higher among the patients with Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas than among control subjects. In contrast to findings reported by others we did not find any difference in HL-A5 frequency between patients with Hodgkin's disease and control subjects.
The possibility of protecting women against rhesus immunization by the administration of anti-D immunoglobulin shortly after delivery has lately received considerable attention. The combined results of several recent clinical trials with this form of treatment have been summarized by Clarke (1967): of 628 women who received prophylactic treatment only one developed rhesus antibodies, whereas 75 cases of immunization were found among 599 women in the control group.It has been shown that rhesus immunization is generally caused by small amounts (less than 1 ml.) of foetal blood that enter the maternal circulation during labour. Rarely, however, very large foeto-maternal haemorrhages occur, and it is important to know if anti-D immunoglobulin prophylaxis is also effective in these cases. Only one case has been described in which a woman with a large transplacental haemorrhage was treated, and in that instance no immunization occurred.While conducting a clinical trial on the effect of anti-D immunoglobulin prophylaxis in Holland we found two cases of massive foeto-maternal hacmorrhage, while two other cases were referred to us for investigation because the child was anaemic at birth. All four women were treated with anti-D immunoglobulin shortly after delivery. Despite this treatment, all four mothers developed rhesus antibodies. The purpose of this report is to discuss the possible reasons for the therapeutic failures and to consider the future management of similar cases.
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