1 Rh Laboratory, 735 Notre Dame Avenue Winnipeg 3, Manitoba, Canada
The paper, "Intra-uterine Transfusion: Fetal Outcome and Complications,"1 deserves comment.
The authors carried out 110 transfusions of 73 fetuses using a CO2 method to confirm placement of the catheter tip (or needle) in the peritoneal cavity of the fetus. On two occasions they injected blood into fetal bowel, on another into fetal bladder, and on a fourth into subcutaneous tissue. Such accidents imply that the CO2 method of confirmation of the catheter tip in the peritoneal cavity is not sufficiently accurate.