DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2021.v09i06.006

Pages: 799-804

Neonatal Sepsis, second major cause of mortality, is killing more than one million neonates annually worldwide [1]. Globally, of three million annual neonatal sepsis cases India has the highest incidence of clinical sepsis (17,000/ 1, 00,000 live births) [2]. In the 1980s and 90s, exchange transfusion (ET) was reported by some authors to be effective in the treatment of neonatal sepsis and septic shock [3]. The main aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of exchange transfusion in neonatal sepsis as compared to standard therapy. Neonates with septic shock (Sclerema) admitted to our NICU from dec 2017 to dec 2018 were included in the study. 43 neonates who received ETs were compared with 43 neonates who received of standard care therapy. The mortality rate was 27.9% in the ET group and 30.1% in the ScT group statistically insignificant. The duration of hospital stay in exchange transfusion babies was less(14.9 days) as compared to control group(22.7days) which was statistically significant(p<0.05). In the era of increasing antibiotic resistance, the need of hour is to find alternative measures in sepsis. Exchange transfusion can be one of the prime modality in treatment of severe neonatal sepsis, which is one of the major cause of deaths worldwide. Exchange transfusion being cheaper as compared to other modalities of treatment (eg; IVIG) needs further research on use and long term complications in neonatal sepsis.