ABSTRACT
At the start of the 20th century the mechanisms of haemostasis were virtually unknown. Townsend had coined the term 'Haemorrhagic disease of the newborn' in 1894 but it was not until the discovery of vitamin K ('Koagulation vitamin') by Dam and others in the 1930s that the condition became understood, allowing treatment and prophylaxis. Methods of prophylaxis (preparations used, doses and routes of administration), still widely debated, have varied with time and from one country to another. The formation of the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit in the 1980s has allowed a series of prospective population studies of Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland which, together with contemporaneous surveys of practices of vitamin K prophylaxis, have greatly improved our understanding of the condition and informed practices of prophylaxis. In the UK prophylaxis (by injection or by mouth) is now offered to every newborn baby and VKDB is very rare, most cases occurring in breastfed babies whose parents have refused prophylaxis; by contrast, in developing countries most babies do not receive prophylaxis and VKDB is probably a common (but poorly documented) cause of death and handicap in the early months of life. Vitamin K prophylaxis should be available to all newborn babies.
Subject(s)
Neonatology/trends , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/epidemiology , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Incidence , Infant, Newborn , Neonatology/history , United Kingdom/epidemiology , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/historySubject(s)
Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/history , Vitamin K Deficiency/history , Vitamin K/history , Child, Preschool , History, 20th Century , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Vitamin K/administration & dosage , Vitamin K Deficiency/prevention & control , Vitamin K Deficiency/therapy , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/etiology , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/prevention & controlABSTRACT
Doctor Parviz Lalezari, currently a clinical professor of Medicine and Pathology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, describes highlights of his research career since 1958. He became the director of the blood bank at Montefiore Hospital in New York City in 1961, director of the Division of Immunohematology until 1996, and then until 2001, was President and chief executive officer of the Bergen Community Regional Blood Center in New Jersey. Doctor Lalezari was born in Iran in 1931, and after graduation from Medical School, he came to the United States in 1956. His initial research was on leukocyte antibodies. After modifying the available antibody detection techniques, he discovered that like hemolytic disease of the newborn and neonatal immune thrombocytopenia, fetal-maternal neutrophil incompatibility can cause neonatal neutropenia. He identified the targets of these antibodies and showed that they were expressed only on peripheral blood neutrophils. Doctor Lalezari also discovered that a common form of neutropenia in early childhood was caused by development of autoantibodies, which surprisingly were directed against the same neutrophil-specific antigens involved in fetal-maternal incompatibility. In 1959, a heparin-neutralizing drug (Polybrene) was introduced to be used after open-heart surgery. Lalezari discovered that Polybrene, a quaternary ammonium polymer, reacted with sialic acid molecules on the red blood cell (RBC) surface, causing the RBCs to aggregate. Later, realizing that the repelling forces generated by the RBC surface membrane charges were responsible for failure of the small IgG antibody molecules to agglutinate the RBCs, he used Polybrene to neutralize the RBC surface negative charge to allow the IgG antibody molecules to induce hemagglutination. This became The Polybrene test, which is to be used in RBC antibody detection.
Subject(s)
Autoantibodies , Erythrocyte Aggregation , Leukocytes , Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding , Autoantibodies/history , Autoantibodies/immunology , Erythrocyte Aggregation/immunology , Heparin Antagonists/chemistry , Heparin Antagonists/history , Hexadimethrine Bromide/chemistry , Hexadimethrine Bromide/history , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Leukocytes/immunology , Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic/history , Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic/immunology , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/history , Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding/immunologyABSTRACT
Pensamos que la enfermedad hemorragica del recien nacido se prevenia de una forma simple y sin ninguna complicación, sin embargo el estudio de Golding en 1992, planteó serias dudas en cuanto a la asociación entre la aplicació IM de vitamina K y diversas formas de cáncer en la infancia. Paises como el reino unido, Alemania, y Australioa suspendieron su aplicación , administrandola por via oral, pero desafortunadamente se han incrementado los casos de la enfermedad. Aparecieron posteriormente dos estudios que no encontraron relación entre cáncer y vitamina K, y se plantea ahora una intensa discusión , la cual se revisa brevemente junto con las formas de presentación de la enfermedad y las mediciones de la vitamina K1 en la leche humana y las leches de formula. en conclusion se requieren más investigaciones para aclarar si existe o no relación entre vitamina K y cáncer, y por el momento debe continuarse su administración por vía intramuscular, y se reafirma la importancia de la lactancia materna, apesar de que la cantidad de vitamina K disponible en ella es menor que la de las leches de fórmula
