Evaluation of the Severity and Duration of Thrombocytopenia following Exchange Transfusion in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia

Background: Infant jaundice is one the most common causes of hospitalization in infant in the first month of birth, which is defined an abnormal increase in blood bilirubin levels. Exchange transfusion is the recommended treatment for neonatal jaundice who do not respond to phototherapy and experience dangerous complication of jaundice and signs of kernicterus. However, this treatment may lead to complications such as thrombocytopenia. This study aimed to investigate the severity and duration of thrombocytopenia following the exchange transfusion in neonatal jaundice. Material and Methods: This cross section study was performed on 217 infants. Infants with a gestational age of 35 to 42 weeks and bilirubin levels of above 17 mg/dl, who were undergoing treated with exchange transfusion, entered in this study. This study was conducted from 2012 to 2018 in the Ghaem Hospital (Mashhad, Iran). The samples were selected by convenience sampling. The platelet count was measured before exchange transfusion, right after exchange transfusion, 6 hours after exchange transfusion, and platelet count continued until platelet level was normal.  At the time of discharge, platelet levels were re-measured. Results: Among the samples, 104(53.8%) were males and 89 (46.2%) females. Of the infants who were transfused, 15 % had thrombocytopenia. After the exchange transfusion, 80 % of infants had thrombocytopenia. The mean platelet count before the exchange transfusion was 299,180 per mm3 of blood, and it was 105.140 per mm3 of blood after the exchange transfusion. With respect to severity of this complication, 86 % of the thrombocytopenia after exchange transfusion was mild to moderate. Conclusion: In this study, nearly one-sixth of the infants who needed exchange transfusions had thrombocytopenia that most of them had platelet of more than 100000.  Thrombocytopenia is associated with jaundice and can be exacerbated by phototherapy.