The role played by Rh immunization in pregnancy wastage.

In about 50% of sensitized pregnancies viable infants were not produced when Rh immunization was allowed to run its natural course. In the past 25 years, five major advances have been made in this area of interest: (1) discovery of the Rhesus factor; (2) development of the technique of exchange transfusion; (3) selective premature induction of labour; (4) spectroscopic examination of amniotic fluid; and (5) prenatal treatment by intrauterine transfusion. Virtually all pregnancy wastage due to Rh immunization is now theoretically preventable through the use of these tools.