Doctors give cord blood transfusion, save baby

CHENNAI: Doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital saved life of a baby by providing cord blood transfusion. The ultrasound-guided intrauterine cord blood transfusion was performed at the Barnard Institute of Radiology after it was found that the baby was carrying Rh positive blood type.

When a Rh negative mother carried an Rh positive fetus (father being Rh positive) during birth of the first child, the Rh antibodies will be developed in the mother’s blood. During the subsequent pregnancy if the, if the fetus is Rh positive then the mother’s Rh antibodies will destroy blood cells of the fetus which can cause fetal anaemia.

To prevent this, the intrauterine cord blood transfusion as fetal therapy, a life saving procedure was provided. This is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu government hospitals, the press release said. The mother successfully delivered a girl with a birth weight of 2.3 kg on Thursday and both are safe and healthy, the release said. The team headed by Dr Ravi, Director of Barnard Institute of Radiology under the lead of Dean Dr E Theranirajan, RGGGH provided the fetal therapy, the release said.