During the last ten years there have been many reports concerning the clinical symptoms of polycythemia and hyperviscosity in the newborn. The cardiovascular, gastrointestinal (GI), CNS, and renal systems, as well as the infant's calcium and glucose balance, have been shown to be affected by polycythemia.1-5 This report concerns two patients who were admitted to the Newborn Special Care Unit at the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, for poor feeding behavior and abdominal obstruction and who became asymptomatic after a partial-exchange transfusion for polycythemia.
Report of Cases.—Case 1.—A female infant was born after 35 weeks' gestation, weighed 1,920 g (20th percentile), and had Apgar scores of 6 and 8 at one and five minutes, respectively. She had mild respiratory distress and was initially placed in an atmosphere of 40% oxygen, but by 10 hours of age she was comfortable in room air. At 2 hours of age,