Letter to the Editor

Abstract

I regret that Dr. Ente has misunderstood both the content and the intent of our paper. We never stated that anemia in hemolytic disease is the fault of phototherapy, but stated that it was the consequence of multiple factors such as transient erythroblastopenia, splenic sequestration, and continuous hemolysis, and was well recognized before the use of phototherapy. The intent of the paper was, not to blame the therapy, but to caution the physican about the need to do frequent bilirubin and hemoglobin estimations in hemolytic disease of the newborn, especially when the infant has had phototherapy and therefore may not require an exchange transfusion.