Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Medical Journal logoLink to British Medical Journal
. 1968 Nov 9;4(5627):349–351. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5627.349

Perforation of the Bowel in the Newborn as a Complication of Exchange Transfusion

R L'E Orme, Sheila M Eades
PMCID: PMC1912604  PMID: 5693234

Abstract

Spontaneous perforation of the bowel without evidence of intestinal obstruction is reported in six infants who had exchange transfusions for rhesus incompatibility, and in a seventh who had prolonged intravenous fluids via the umbilical vein. The pathological findings resemble those found in acute necrotizing enterocolitis in adults, which is known to be associated with arterial hypotension. The cause in these infants may also be due to a period of hypotension during the transfusion, and hypoxia and superimposed infection may also play an important part.

Full text

PDF
351

Images in this article

350Case 1
on p.350

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Fonkalsrud E. W., Ellis D. G., Clatworthy H. W., Jr Neonatal peritonitis. J Pediatr Surg. 1966 Jun;1(3):227–239. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3468(66)80003-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. HERMANN R. E. PERFORATION OF THE COLON FROM NECROTIZING COLITIS IN THE NEWBORN: REPORT OF A SURVIVAL AND A NEW ETIOLOGIC CONCEPT. Surgery. 1965 Aug;58:436–441. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. KAY A. W., RICHARDS R. L., WATSON A. J. Acute necrotizing (pseudomembranous) enterocolitis. Br J Surg. 1958 Jul;46(195):45–57. doi: 10.1002/bjs.18004619509. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. LILLEHEI R. C. The intestinal factor in irreversible hemorrhagic shock. Surgery. 1957 Dec;42(6):1043–1054. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. MARSTON A. The bowel in shock. The role of mesenteric arterial disease as a cause of death in the elderly. Lancet. 1962 Aug 25;2(7252):365–370. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(62)90227-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. McGovern V. J., Goulston S. J. Ischaemic enterocolitis. Gut. 1965 Jun;6(3):213–220. doi: 10.1136/gut.6.3.213. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. NIENHUIS L. I. COLON PERFORATIONS IN THE NEWBORN. Am Surg. 1963 Dec;29:835–840. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Thomas C. S., Jr, Brockman S. K. Idiopathic perforation of the colon in infancy: report of two cases and literature review. Ann Surg. 1966 Nov;164(5):853–858. doi: 10.1097/00000658-196611000-00011. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. WALDHAUSEN J. A., HERENDEEN T., KING H. NECROTIZING COLITIS OF THE NEWBORN: COMMONCAUSE OF PERFORATION OF THE COLON. Surgery. 1963 Aug;54:365–372. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES