The use of acute phase proteins and cytokines from umbilical cord blood for the diagnosis of neonatal infections

The determination of acute phase proteins and cytokines in umbilical cord b lood provides a useful addition to the possibilities available for the diag nosis neonatal diseases. The analysis of umbilical cord brood is easy to ca rry out and the results are rapidly available. One problem is that the dete rmination and evaluation can not be carried out satisfactorily for all bloo d parameters. Considering the severe, life long illnesses which can result from a neonata l infection, it is necessary to continue work on the determination of param eters in umbilical cord blood relating to infection. It is likely that the evaluation of such parameters will become routine in certain birth senarios within the next few years.