DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF HYPERIBILIRUBINEMIA IN THE NEONATE

Abstract

Bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction can occur in term and near-term healty babies. The term babies who are unwell, the preterm neonates, and the infants who have multiple comorbidities constitute a group vulnerable to bilirubin neurotxicity. The current resurces for clinical interventions that can drastically and efficiently reduce the increased bilirubin-load-intensive phototherapy and exchange transfusions – are available for use in those infants who have excessive hyperbilirubinemia (as judged by their postnatal age, wellenss and gestation); however these interventions have a very narrow margin of safety for babies who have rapid or unrecognized increases in their bilirubin load. Because most babies are discharged before the hyperbilirubinemia reaches its peak during the first week of life, preventive and system-based strategies offer a safer, kinder and gentler means to prevent BIND, including kernicterus

Keywords

• hyperbilirubinemia
• the term neonate
• neurologic dysfunction
• bind (bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction)
• kernicterus