Blood transfusions and human recombinant erythropoietin in premature newborn infants.

Transfusion with concentrated erythrocytes is a common form of treatment in many very premature infants. It is estimated that over 80% of infants requiring intensive care have received at least one blood transfusion as part of their treatment, and 37% more than two.' Frequent blood transfusions expose the infants to multiple donors. One survey reported that infants who were given more than one transfusion received blood from a mean of 4.9 donors.2 There is increasing anxiety concerning the potential adverse effects ofblood transfusions and various methods for reducing the need for blood transfusions in sick premature infants have been investigated. In particular, the role of human recombinant erythropoietin has been the subject of a number of controlled studies: we describe an overview of the efficacy of this form of treatment.