Irene T.M. Lindenburg

Research

Her research spans two fields: intrauterine transfusion (IUT) for fetal anaemia, at Leiden, and work and health in insurance medicine.

Intrauterine transfusion

When a pregnant woman's immune system forms antibodies against her baby's red blood cells, the baby can develop severe anaemia. Untreated, this leads to hydrops and sometimes perinatal death. The cornerstone of treatment is an intravascular blood transfusion in the womb. During the research period Leiden was the national referral centre for it.

Her 2014 review sets out the indications and complications of the procedure. In 2013 she showed that perinatal loss is higher when treatment has to start before 20 weeks of gestation. She later contributed to the analysis of 1678 transfusions over 27 years.

In 2011 the authors noted that the learning curve of the procedure had not been studied. She applied cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis to the performance of four operators over more than twenty years. The method proved suitable both to follow a learning phase and to monitor long-term performance.

The 2010 protocol led to the LOTUS study: 291 children, assessed with standardised developmental tests. Severe hydrops before treatment was the strongest predictor of impairment. Follow-up studies covered quality of life, transfusion for parvovirus B19 infection and the long-term outcome of an immunoglobulin trial.

The 2015 thesis gathers this research. The supervisor was D. Oepkes, with I.L. van Kamp and E. Lopriore as co-supervisors.

Work and health

As an insurance physician she now writes on work and health. The educational article Arbeidsgerichte zorg (work-focused health care) addresses the treating clinician: spotting problems with work and health in time can support work capacity and recovery. That care also reaches patients who never see an occupational or insurance physician.

On the Science Committee of the NVVG she and her colleagues review guidelines, standards and protocols for quality and relevance to the field.