Hemolytic disease of the newborn (ABO)

ABO HDN
SpecialtyHematology/pediatrics

In ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn (also known as ABO HDN) maternal IgG antibodies with specificity for the ABO blood group system pass through the placenta to the fetal circulation where they can cause hemolysis of fetal red blood cells which can lead to fetal anemia and HDN. In contrast to Rh disease, about half of the cases of ABO HDN occur in a firstborn baby and ABO HDN does not become more severe after further pregnancies.[citation needed]

The ABO blood group system is the best known surface antigen system, expressed on a wide variety of human cells. For Caucasian populations about one fifth of all pregnancies have ABO incompatibility between the fetus and the mother, but only a very small minority develop symptomatic ABO HDN.[1] The latter typically only occurs in mothers of blood group O, because they can produce enough IgG antibodies to cause hemolysis.[citation needed]

Although very uncommon, cases of ABO HDN have been reported in infants born to mothers with blood groups A[2][3] and B.[4]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-03-01. Retrieved 2007-12-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[full citation needed]
  2. ^ Wang, Michael; Hays, Taru; Ambruso, Dan R.; Silliman, Christopher C.; Dickey, William C. (2005). "Hemolytic disease of the newborn caused by a high titer anti-group B IgG from a group a mother". Pediatric Blood & Cancer. 45 (6): 861–2. doi:10.1002/pbc.20503. PMID 16007582. S2CID 44546304.
  3. ^ Jeon, H; Calhoun, B; Pothiawala, M; Herschel, M; Baron, B. W. (2000). "Significant ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn in a group B infant with a group A2 mother". Immunohematology. 16 (3): 105–8. doi:10.21307/immunohematology-2019-587. PMID 15373613. S2CID 38090703.
  4. ^ Haque, K. M.; Rahman, M (2000). "An unusual case of ABO-haemolytic disease of the newborn". Bangladesh Medical Research Council Bulletin. 26 (2): 61–4. PMID 11508073.