PEDIATRICS Vol. 81 No. 6 June 1988, pp. 881-882
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Sn-Protoporphyrin: A Consideration of the First Clinical Trial in Human Neonates

DAVID K. STEVENSON MD1 and HENDRIK J. VREMAN MD1

1 Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA

The history of new treatment modalities for neonates1 suggests that cautious optimism is warranted even when one considers the first successful trial of a novel and exciting strategy for the chemoprevention or treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia with tin protoporphyrin (Sn-protoporphyrin). Kappas et al2 and Drummond and Kappas3 were the first to show that this synthetic protoporphyrin is effective in decreasing plasma bilirubin levels in both adult and neonatal animals and humans.

In the April issue of Pediatrics, Kappas et al,2 reported the results of administering as many as three doses (0.75 µmol/kg per dose) of Sn-protoporphyrin to human neonates with hyperbilirubinemia due to hemolytic disease caused by ABO incompatibility.