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[2] [1] A bilirubin level more than 34 μmol/L (2 mg/dL) may be visible. [1] Concerns, in otherwise healthy babies, occur when levels are greater than 308 μmol/L (18 mg/dL), jaundice is noticed in the first day of life, there is a rapid rise in levels, jaundice lasts more than two weeks, or the baby appears unwell. [1]
Neonatal cholestasis refers to elevated levels of conjugated bilirubin identified in newborn infants within the first few months of life. [1] Conjugated hyperbilirubinemia is clinically defined as >20% of total serum bilirubin or conjugated bilirubin concentration greater than 1.0 mg/dL regardless of total serum bilirubin concentration. [2]
Jaundice in infants, as in adults, is characterized by increased bilirubin levels (infants: total serum bilirubin greater than 5 mg/dL). Normal physiological neonatal jaundice is due to immaturity of liver enzymes involved in bilirubin metabolism, immature gut microbiota, and increased breakdown of fetal hemoglobin (HbF). [54]
Pathological jaundice in newborns should be suspected when the serum bilirubin level rises by more than 5 mg/dL per day, serum bilirubin more than the physiological range, clinical jaundice more than 2 weeks, and conjugated bilirubin (dark urine staining clothes). Haemolytic jaundice is the commonest cause of pathological jaundice.
The bilirubin level found in the body reflects the balance between production and excretion. Blood test results are advised to always be interpreted using the reference range provided by the laboratory that performed the test. The SI units are μmol/L. [52] Typical ranges for adults are: [53] 0–0.3 mg/dl – Direct (conjugated) bilirubin level
Most (>95%) infants with biliary atresia will undergo an operation designed to retain and salvage the native liver, restore bile flow, and reduce the level of jaundice. This is known as the Kasai procedure (after Morio Kasai , the Japanese surgeon who first developed the technique) or hepatoportoenterostomy .
Newborn infant with Rhesus disease, a type of hemolytic disease of the newborn, suffering from hydrops fetalis (edema caused by heart failure). The infant did not survive. [4] Signs of hemolytic disease of the newborn include a positive direct Coombs test (also called direct agglutination test), elevated cord bilirubin levels, and hemolytic anemia.
Hereditary hyperbilirubinemia refers to a group of conditions where levels of bilirubin, a byproduct of red blood cell metabolism, are elevated in the blood due to a genetic cause. [1] Various mutations of enzymes in the liver cells, which breakdown bilirubin, cause varying elevated levels of bilirubin in the blood. [2]