[Cr51: its use in the detection of blood in stools in the neonatal period]

In order to determine the sensitivity of the Cr51 method in intestinal blood losses, 11 normal term newborn babies were studied with no intercurrences in the perinatal period. A blood sample was labeled for each patient with Cr51 and during 3 day periods; daily blood samples were drawn and stools collected. It was observed a high degree of erythrocytes labelling and minimal blood losses were detected showing high sensitivity of the method.