Systematic follow-up of hyperbilirubinemia in neonates with a gestational age of 35 to 37 weeks.

Objectives: To determine the outcomes of an intervention for follow-up of bilirubinemia in the first week of life in a cohort of newborn infants with gestational ages between 35 0/7 and 37 6/7 weeks and to determine risk factors for readmission for phototherapy (total bilirubin > 18 mg/dL).

Methods: Retrospective cohort study carried out at a public teaching hospital. Neonates underwent periodic monitoring of total bilirubin levels (measured in plasma or by transcutaneous device) before and after discharge to assess the need for phototherapy.

Follow-up of neonatal jaundice in term and late premature newborns.

Objectives: To report on the results of a project following term and near term newborn infants who were jaundiced during the neonatal period.

Methods: Neonates were referred to the follow-up clinic with weight >/= 2,000 g and/or gestational age >/= 35 weeks, and jaundice at discharge was initially assessed with an Ingram icterometer or Bilicheck and, if indicated, with a Unistat bilirubinometer (Leica). These newborn infants had bilirubinemia at or above the 40th percentile on the nomogram developed by Bhutani.

Comparison of transcutaneous and plasma bilirubin measurement.

Objectives: To compare transcutaneous bilirubin measurements made using Bilicheck equipment with assays of capillary plasma using the Unistat bilirubinometer (Leica).

Methods: Two hundred concomitant assays were performed (transcutaneous and in plasma), and the correlation and level of agreement between them was calculated. An assessment was also made of the influence of birth weight, skin color, gestational age, postnatal age and phototherapy.

[Persistent neonatal hyperbilirubinemia resulting from Gilbert's syndrome in association with RhD hemolytic disease].

Objective: To report on an infrequent association of pathologies causing considerable increase in bilirubin production and a significant decrease in its excretion.

Description: The third pregnancy of an RhD negative woman. Her first child was normal and delivered to term and did not receive Rhogam.

[Evaluation of two guidelines for the management of hyperbilirubinemia in newborn babies weighing less than 2,000 g].

Objective: To evaluate the use of two phototherapy guidelines for the treatment of hyperbilirubinemia in newborn babies weighing less than 2,000 g.

Methods: Eighty-one newborn infants with birth weight less than 2,000 g were studied. They were divided in two groups: the "early" group, which started phototherapy 12 hours after birth, undergoing treatment for at least 96 hours; and the "late" group, which received phototherapy whenever the transcutaneous bilirubin reached 8 mg/dl and phototherapy suspended when bilirubin levels fell to 5 mg/dl.