Icterus Neonatorum in Near-Term and Term Infants An overview
Journal Title: Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal - Year 2012, Vol 12, Issue 2
Abstract
Neonatal jaundice is the yellowish discoloration of the skin and/or sclerae of newborn infants caused by tissue deposition of bilirubin. Physiological jaundice is mild, unconjugated (indirect-reacting) bilirubinaemia, and affects nearly all newborns. Physiological jaundice levels typically peak at 5 to 6 mg/dL (86 to 103 µmol/L) at 72 to 96 hours of age, and do not exceed 17 to 18 mg/dL (291–308 µmol/L). Levels may not peak until seven days of age in Asian infants, or in infants born at 35 to 37 weeks’ gestation. Higher levels of unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia are considered pathological and occur in a variety of conditions. Te clinical features and management of unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia in healthy near-term and term infants, as well as bilirubin toxicity and the prevention of kernicterus, are reviewed here. Te pathogenesis and aetiology of this disorder are discussed separately.
Authors and Affiliations
Rehan Ali| Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, Shakeel Ahmed| Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, Maqbool Qadir| Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, Khalil Ahmad| Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Semilobar Holoprosencephaly with Neurogenic Hypernatraemia Two new cases
Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a developmental defect of the embryonic forebrain and midface. It is due to the non-cleavage of the embryonic forebrain into two cerebral hemispheres and the incomplete development of the par...
Transfascial Muscular Hernias: Diagnosis by dynamic ultrasonography
A28-year-old male patient presented to the Department of Dermatology of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, in 2018 with a seven-year history of skin-coloured soft nodules on the anterior and lateral si...
Therapy with radionuclides, clinical acceptance is overdue
In this issue, Drs. Bererhi and Constable‘ have published an important paper on the radiation doses received by relatives of patients after radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer or for hyperthyroid Graves' disease. Ba...
A Brief History of Breast Cancer Part III - Tumour biology lays the foundation for medical oncology
Intrinsic Lymphatics of the Thymus in the Rat: A Detailed Light and Electron Microscopic Study using Serial Sections
The morphology and distribution of intrinsic lymphatics of the thymus gland of adult Swiss-Albino rats was studied by light and transmisson electron microscopy. Lymphatic channels were traced, in serial semithin section...