3 newborn babies suffered brain hemorrhage due to vitamin K deficiency

The National Children's Hospital (Hanoi) is treating three one-month-old babies with brain hemorrhage due to vitamin K deficiency.

The baby is being treated at the National Children's Hospital.

According to Dr. Dang Anh Duong, Deputy Head of the Department of Surgical Resuscitation, National Children's Hospital, in just a few consecutive days, three babies from Vinh Phuc, Nam Dinh, and Ha Nam provinces were hospitalized in a comatose and lethargic state. The children were diagnosed with bleeding due to a decrease in the prothrombin ratio in the blood, caused by a lack of vitamin K.

The three children were transfused with blood products to stop bleeding, stop meningeal bleeding, and stabilize vital functions such as breathing and circulation. After that, the surgeon removed the blood clot from the children.

Dr. Duong said that 90% of children with cerebral hemorrhage due to vitamin K deficiency usually occur at 30-40 days old due to vitamin K deficiency. The mortality rate (25-40%) or sequelae (40-50%) are very high. The most common sequelae are brain atrophy, hydrocephalus, microcephaly, epilepsy, cerebral palsy or psychomotor developmental disabilities.

To prevent the disease, children need to be supplemented with vitamin K immediately after birth by two methods: intramuscular injection or oral. Specifically, all newborns are injected with a dose of 1 mg of vitamin K1, or a dose of 2 mg of vitamin K3. All newborns are given three doses of vitamin K1: the first dose immediately after birth, the second dose at 7 days old, and the third dose at one month old.

If babies are given vitamin K immediately after birth, the rate of brain hemorrhage is 0.25 per 100,000 babies.

According to VNE