Jaundice is a common disease in newborns, and the condition can be fatal but can be prevented with a simple treatment. The most important thing for a parent to know is that jaundice can be quickly and easily detected, even at home.
But, if left undiagnosed, jaundice pose life-threatening risk. If you notice the symptoms in your child, you should call your doctor immediately, and your doctor will be able to give you advice and treatment to help prevent the condition.
What are the causes of neonatal jaundice?
Jaundice caused by a build-up of bilirubin in the blood. When the red blood cells break down, a yellow substance releases, known as bilirubin. Generally liver removes it from the body, but a newborn’s liver may not be that strong to excrete out all bilirubin, and the level of bilirubin starts to increase.
Jaundice is a very harmless condition, but sometimes neonatal jaundice causes a serious threat to a newborn’s life, leading to the need for jaundice treatment. The severity determined by the level of bilirubin in the blood.
What Are The Symptoms?
Symptoms of Jaundice in newborns are as follows:
- Yellowing of the eyes, skin, palm, mouth, feet and mucous membranes,
- Poor feeding, lethargy,
- Also, Vomiting and fever.
- Jaundice can also cause dehydration, malnutrition and renal failure.
- Urine turns yellow due to high bilirubin levels.
- Complicated symptoms can be seizures, cerebral palsy, or kernicterus.
These are some common symptoms that can diagnosed easily at home also (except the last one).
When Are Babies More Likely To Develop Jaundice?
Generally, physiological jaundice in newborn can be detected three days after birth. More problems that lead to jaundice in newborns are:
- When a baby is born premature, he is more likely to develop jaundice. And that too easily because their liver is weak and incapable of eliminating bilirubin from the body.
- Fragile red blood cells can also cause jaundice. Fragile blood cells can easily break down and release bilirubin, which can cause a rise in the infant’s body.
- Jaundice also caused when the blood type of the mother and the newborn is different.
- Breast milk is also one of the reasons for jaundice. Studies say that breast milk can prevent the liver from eliminating the bilirubin substance from the body. That’s known as called breast milk jaundice.
Neonatal jaundice treatment
There are different ways to treat jaundice, and each requires a different approach. For example, if an infant gets jaundice, the physician will look for the cause of the problem based on the child’s clinical presentation. Jaundice can be caused by a congenital problem, a dietary problem, or a problem with the liver.
A congenital jaundiced infant would have the highest level of bilirubin and have dark urine. A bilirubin encephalopathy would be more pronounced and appear in the form of lethargy, restlessness, and irritability. The baby would look yellow and have a very dark skin color. That’s where jaundice would considered to be a problem related with the liver.
If a baby is jaundiced and their bilirubin levels in the range of 5 to 10, the physician would consider treating the baby with phototherapy or exchange transfusion. If the bilirubin level is more than 10, the physician would consider exchange transfusion.
So, these two treatments used widely for Neonatal Jaundice, and those are as follows:
Phototherapy:
Phototherapy is a painless and safe way to treat neonatal jaundice, a common condition in newborns. It works by using a special light to activate special pigments in the skin that help the body remove excess bilirubin, a substance that can build up in the blood if not removed.
The light penetrates the skin and passes to the bilirubin pigments in the skin, converting the light into heat and the body’s natural pigments that normally can help remove bilirubin. Phototherapy’s effectiveness proven over a long period. And it proved effective in preventing jaundice from becoming a more serious condition. It is does not produce any side effects.
Exchange Transfusion:
Exchange transfusion is a treatment to treat neonatal jaundice. It’s when a donor blood component other than whole blood transfused to a patient. This method used when the amount of bilirubin in the blood is too large to safely leave in the infant. But there is a shortage of whole blood. When blood enters, the general circulation blood cells are damaged by free radicals. After that released by the body as a natural byproduct of metabolism. As a result, it‘s believed that the damaged cells will replaced by new cells, and the transfused blood and filtered to remove the old cells. At the same time, there is little evidence that this treatment is effective.
How Is Phototherapy Effective for Neonatal Jaundice Care?
Phototherapy is a non-invasive therapeutic procedure that effectively removes hyper-bilirubin levels by exposing the patient to bright light for some time. Phototherapy is a well-established treatment for jaundice, and it effectively relieves the symptoms of the condition.
It is a simple, highly effective, non-invasive and safe procedure. The yellow colour of jaundice does go away with Phototherapy. The process of reducing the bilirubin level from blood known as Photo-oxidation.
How does it works?
The light absorbed by the haemoglobin molecules in red blood cells. Causing the oxygenated haemoglobin molecules to converted to non-oxygenated haemoglobin molecules. In this way, the oxygen-carrying capability of the blood decreased. The therapy is based on the principle of light absorption by the pigment bilirubin.
VNG Medical Devices To Aid Neonatal Jaundice
LED Phototherapy
It is a floor-standing device carefully designed to cure neonatal jaundice. The device is perfect for the NICU and nurseries. It is a portable device that has special blue lights to treat jaundice in newborns. In addition, the bright lights help to reduce the bilirubin levels in the blood. The lights emitted does not include any dangerous radiations, such as; Ultraviolet rays and Infrared rays.
Specification
- Adjustable LED lamp with tilt technology
- Noise-free operation
- Sleek and ‘T’ shaped design to fit anywhere easily
- Comes with an adjustable height option
- Also, light in weight
- Lastly lamps have approximately 45000 hours of life
Bilismart Under Surface Phototherapy
The Bilismart is a non-invasive phototherapy device used for neonatal jaundice treatment. It eliminates bilirubin levels in the infant’s blood by using a process known as photo-oxidation. It is a non-invasive alternative to the classical method of treatment of jaundice, which is to induce skin pigmentation to block the light that is detrimental to newborns.
This treatment is painless and has a low degree of side effects. The photo-oxidation must be performed at the beginning of the treatment to be efficient and provide the desired outcome. The bilismart is safe and provides an effective treatment for all types of jaundice.
Specification
- This device performs phototherapy
- Easy to use
- No discomfort to the newborn during therapy
- The device uses 12 lamps that are high-intensity blue lamps
- Lamps serve 45000 hours lifetime
- Electricity consumption very low compared to other devices
LED Double Surface Phototherapy
When the Bilismart Under Surface Phototherapy placed under the LED Phototherapy stand and altogether it forms Double Surface LED phototherapy. This provides an effective double cure for treating jaundice in this way, and a newborn can treated instantly and with full efficiency.
Bilistick® System
Bilistick is used to diagnose the levels of bilirubin in the blood. This device provides immediate results because it uses serum bilirubin concentration. This detector requires the collection of blood samples of the infant using test strips.
Specification
- Optical sensors are used
- Testing time is less than two minutes
- It has a self-calibration system once the test strip is inserted
- Results are displayed in colour display.
- The dimensions of the result display are 36.0 x 29.0 mm.
- Resolution is ± 0.1 mg/dL / 1.0 μmol/L
- The measurement system is based on a photometric system having two-wavelength; 465 nm and 570nm.
- It also detects Hemolysis automatically.
- In addition, range is between 1 mg/dL to 40 mg/dL & from 17.1 μmol/L to 684.0 μmol/L.
Transcutaneous – Jaundice Detector (MBJ20)
This is a jaundice detecting device that helps to diagnose neonatal jaundice. In conclusion, this system can quickly detect the condition of neonatal jaundice patients by placing the device on the infant’s skin.
Specification
- Easy to use
- Small handheld device
- Accurate and instant results
- No discomfort to the newborn
- Wide LCD Display
- Serves the purpose for a long time
- Perform mean value computation
- Functions such as; Memory and storage
- No blood sample required
- Clinical purpose device
- Also, time-saving and cost-effective way to detect jaundice
VNG Phototherapy Eye Mask
Eye masks are designed for an infant during phototherapy to prevent high-intensity light from entering the retina. And, because of the small surface area of infants, it can be difficult for their eyes to protect their retina from bright light. But the mask does not allow UV light so that it won’t damage baby’s eyes, nor does it emit radiation to their skin. So, the mask is made of high-quality material with soft and non-allergenic fabric that will comfort the newborn.
Specification
- Foam padding for comfort
- Specially designed for neonatal care
- Eye mask fits perfectly to prevent light from entering
- Also, prevents any optical damage/harm
Quality Assurance From VNG Medical
Our team cares about the comfort and needs of our customers. We ensure that all our products pass through quality checks. We are professionals, and we are working diligently to provide the best possible output.
“Every Newborn Life Matters” we believe firmly in our vision. We hope to make a better future for newborns; join hands with us in this good cause.
We have been providing the best healthcare services to our customers, and we are confident that we will continue to provide our services with the same quality. If you have any queries, you can always reach out to us and contact information is available on our website. If you have any queries, please reach out to us and contact information is available on our website. We appreciate every feedback.
