[Efficacy and safety of intravenous immunoglobulins in the management of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia due to ABO incompatibility: a meta-analysis].

OBJECTIVES

ABO fetomaternal red blood cell incompatibility (ABO FMI) induces an immune hemolysis after fetal transfer of hemolyzing maternal anti-A or anti-B. ABO hemolytic disease (ABO HD) remains the most frequent cause of severe and early jaundice in newborns. High levels of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia may induce acute and chronic neurological complications. Severe hyperbilirubinemia can be prevented by first-line phototherapy (PT) treatment, but exchange transfusion (ET) is required if treatment is not effective, even if ET is linked with high hemodynamic, infectious, gastrointestinal, and/or biological morbidity. Intravenous human polyclonal immunoglobulins (IVIg) have been proposed in concomitant use with PT in order to avoid the requirement for ET in ABO FMI.

METHODS

Electronic databases of all published clinical trials in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia due to ABO incompatibility were systematically queried for randomized controlled clinical trials comparing PT alone to PT associated with IVIg based on the requirement for ET. Duration of PT and adverse events were optional criteria. A meta-analysis of the selected data was performed on six selected trials out of 28 found.

RESULTS

IVIg doses ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 g/Kg in one to three administrations. Requirement for ET was lower in the IgIV+PT group, with a relative risk of 0.27 [CI 95% 0.17-0.42; P<0.00001], expressed as a number needed to treat of five neonates to avoid one ET. The mean duration of PT was 4 days in the PT group and association of PT with IVIg significantly reduced the duration of PT treatment by 0.84 days. The tolerance of the IVIg and PT association was good with no reported cases of ulcerative enterocolitis in 265 treated newborns.

CONCLUSION

IVIG associated with PT reduces the need for ET and the duration of PT in newborns with hyperbilirubinemia due to ABO hemolytic disease. Their efficacy and good tolerance prompt consideration of IVIg as a therapeutic adjuvant to PT in severe hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia due to ABO incompatibility.