Khdair-Ahmad F, Aladily T, Khdair-Ahmad O, Badran EF. Chelation therapy for secondary neonatal iron overload: Lessons learned from rhesus hemolytic disease. Turk J Pediatr 2018; 60: 335-339. Secondary neonatal iron overload occurs with intrauterine and post-natal blood transfusions. Treatment with intravenous Deferoxamine was reported only in four cases in the literature. Herein we report a case of a patient born at 36 weeks of gestation, who had rhesus hemolytic disease. He developed secondary iron overload, causing liver injury, after a total of six blood transfusions: four intrauterine and 2 post-natal transfusion therapies. Intravenous Deferoxamine treatment was started at the age of 45 days due to a ferritin level of 40,000 mg/L, progressive rise of liver enzymes, and worsening cholestasis. Treatment resulted in marked reduction in ferritin level (down to 829 mg/L at the age of 6 months), significant improvement in the liver enzymes, and resolution of cholestasis.

Keywords: cholestasis, deferoxamine, intrauterine blood transfusion therapy, iron overload, neonates