Abstract
The effectiveness of phototherapy in the management of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficient infants was studied. Prophylactic phototherapy for 6 continuous days commencing from the 1st day of life was effective in preventing a significant rise in bilirubin levels in 12 G6PD-deficient infants in the 1st 3 days, during which period a rapid rise was observed in a control group of G6PD-deficient infants. The Hb levels on the 1st and 8th postnatal days were comparable in both groups. Therapeutic phototherapy proved equally effective in reducing bilirubin levels in 24 infants with nonhemolytic hyperbilirubinemia and an equal number of intants with hyperbilirubinemia associated with G6PD deficiency. Phototherapy was efficacious in the prevention or treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia associated with G6PD deficiency; even if its use is prolonged it does not cause hemolysis.

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