[Exsanguinotransfusion at the Holy Cross Hospital, Cuneo].

A brief reference to the criteria employed in the selection of candidates for exsanguinotransfusion (bilirubinaemia threshold), and a short account of the medical and physical treatment of serious neonatal icterus are followed by a description of personal exsanguinotransfusion experiences. 57 cases have been treated in this fashion in 3 1/2 years, 20 from centres in the province and 37 (0.72% of births) from children both at the Obstetrics Division of the Cuneo Hospital. 32 patients were born at term, the remainder were immature. The indications for treatment included 4 cases of pathological icterus resulting from the reabsorption of haematoma (3 of these cases presented indirect bilirubin values above the 20 mg % threshold). The mean mortality index was 3.5%. Complications were confined to: (immediate), one case of thromboembolism of a lower limb; (late) frequent chronic exudative-type enteropathy. Of 20 subjects whose indirect bilirubin values had surpassed the 20 mg% threshold (with values as high as 36 mg %) before treatment, one only presented signs of cerebral lesion (aphasia, with intelligence unimpaired).