Kernicterus

Kernicterus is damage to the brain centers of infants caused by elevated levels of bilirubin. This may be due to several underlying pathologic processes. Newborn babies are often polycythemic, meaning they have too many red blood cells. When they break down the cells, one of the byproducts is bilirubin, which circulates in the blood, and causes jaundice. Alternately, Rh incompatibility between mother and fetus may cause hemolysis of fetal red blood cells, thereby releasing unconjugated bilirubin into the fetal blood. Since the fetal blood brain barrier is not fully formed, some of this released bilirubin enters the brain and interferes with normal neuronal development.In adults and older children, jaundice is harmless in and of itself. However, the tissues protecting the brain are immature in newborns. Bilirubin penetrates the brain and is deposited in the basal ganglia, causing irreversible damage. Depending on the level of exposure, the effects range from unnoticeable to severe brain damage.Some medications, such as co-trimoxazole, a combination of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole may induce this disorder to the baby when taken by the mother or given directly to the baby. Due to displacement of of bilirubin from binding sites on serum albumin. The bilirubin is then free to pass into the Central Nervous System, because the baby's blood-brain barrier is not fully developed. (From the Wikpedia article Kernicterus.)

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Recent Publications on Kernicterus:
Outcomes in a population of healthy term and near-term infants with serum bilirubin levels of >or=325 micromol/L (>or=19 mg/dL) who were born in Nova Scotia, Canada, between 1994 and 2000. OBJECTIVE: The goal was to study the incidence of kernicterus,...	4th July, 2008	Department of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax,	Pediatrics. 2008 Jul;122(1):119-24. DOI Direct Link
A practical approach to neonatal jaundice. Kernicterus and neurologic sequelae caused by severe neonatal...	25th June, 2008	Department of Family Medicine, Eastern Division of West Virginia	Am Fam Physician. 2008 May 1;77(9):1255-62.
[Haemolysis and turbidity influence on three analysis methods of quantitative determination of total and conjugated bilirubin on ADVIA 1650] Plasma bilirubin testing is crucial to prevent the occurrence of neonatal...	21st June, 2008	Laboratoire de biochimie-hormonologie, Hopital Robert Debre, Paris.	Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 2008 Mar-Apr;66(2):175-82. DOI Direct Link
Phototherapy for neonatal jaundice. Kernicterus and neurologic sequelae caused by severe neonatal...	20th June, 2008		N Engl J Med. 2008 Jun 5;358(23):2524; author reply 2524-5.
Evaluation of oxidant and antioxidant status in term neonates: a plausible protective role of bilirubin. In vitro studies have shown unequivocally that bilirubin is an...	19th June, 2008	Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Centre, Post Graduate	Mol Cell Biochem. 2008 Jun 17;. DOI Direct Link
→View more research publications.

Kernicterus Clinical Trials:
Efficacy of High-Dose Intravenous Immune Globulin Therapy for Hyperbilirubinemia Due Rh Hemolytic Disease	Hyperbilirubinemia;   Erythroblastosis, Fetal

Kernicterus Patents:
US Patent No.	Title
3980696	Photodosimeter film badge
4895799	Process and reagent for the determination of total bilirubin
4930516	Method for detecting cancerous tissue using visible native luminescence
5010073	Use of liposomes as carriers for metalloporphyrins
5042494	Method and apparatus for detecting cancerous tissue using luminescence excitation spectra
→View more patents.

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