Immune-mediated neutropenia in the neonate

Neutropenia is a relatively common finding in ill neonates, occurring in approximately 32,000 infants each year in the United States. In this patient population, immunemediated neutropenia results from the antibody-mediated destruction of neutrophils and is associated with such disorders as alloimmune neonatal neutropenia, neonatal autoimmune neutropenia, and autoimmune neutropenia of infancy. Such conditions only recently have begun to be understood and often are problematic in terms of clinical identification and laboratory confirmation. This article reviews the clinical presentation, laboratory diagnosis, and treatment options for these three disorders.