Kernicterus meaning

Overview Kernicterus is a type of brain damage most often seen in babies. It’s caused by an extreme buildup of bilirubin in the brain. Bilirubin is a waste product that’s produced when your liver breaks down old red blood cells so your body can remove them. It’s normal for newborns to have high bilirubin levels. This is known as Kernicterus is a medical emergency. Babies with this condition need to be treated right away to bring down their bilirubin levels and prevent further brain damage. Signs of Babies with kernicterus are also lethargic. This means they are unusually sleepy. All babies sleep a lot, but lethargic babies sleep even more than is typical and are very hard to wake up. When they do wake up, they often fall right back to sleep. Other symptoms of kernicterus include: • high-pitched crying • decreased appetite and less feeding than usual • inconsolable crying • floppy or limp body • missing reflexes • arching of the head and heels back, like a bow • uncontrollable movements • vomiting • unusual eye movements • lack of wet or dirty diapers • fever • seizures If you notice these symptoms, see a doctor or take your baby to the hospital right away. Kernicterus is very rare in adults. The conditions that cause it most often affect infants. It’s possible for adults to develop high bilirubin levels, but almost never kernicterus. Conditions that can cause very high bilirubin levels in adults include: • Crigler-Najjar syndrome: An inherited condition that makes it harde...

Kernicterus is a rare but serious complication of untreated jaundice in babies. It's caused by excess bilirubin damaging the brain or central nervous system. In newborn babies with very high levels of bilirubin in the blood (hyperbilirubinaemia), the bilirubin can cross the thin layer of tissue that separates the brain and blood (the blood-brain barrier). The bilirubin can damage the brain and spinal cord, which can be life-threatening. Brain damage caused by high levels of bilirubin is also called bilirubin encephalopathy. Your baby may be at risk of developing kernicterus if: • they have a very high level of bilirubin in their blood • the level of bilirubin in their blood is rising rapidly • they do not receive any treatment Initial symptoms of kernicterus in babies include: • poor feeding • irritability • a high-pitched cry • no startle reflex • lethargy (sleepiness) • brief pauses in breathing (apnoea) • their muscles becoming unusually floppy, like a rag doll As kernicterus progresses, additional symptoms can include fits (seizures) and muscle spasms that can cause arching of the back and neck. Treatment for kernicterus involves using an exchange transfusion as used in the If significant brain damage occurs before treatment, a child can develop serious and permanent problems, such as: • • • • involuntary twitching of different parts of their body • problems maintaining normal eye movements (people affected by kernicterus have a tendency to gaze upwards or from side to...

Overview What is bilirubin? Bilirubin is a byproduct of broken-down old What is a bilirubin blood test? A bilirubin blood test measures bilirubin levels in your blood. A healthcare provider draws a small sample of your blood from a vein and sends it to a lab to analyze. The lab will measure your bilirubin levels to determine whether they’re in the normal range. High or low bilirubin levels might indicate that some part of the process of breaking down and clearing old red blood cells isn’t working correctly. What do bilirubin levels in your blood indicate? Healthcare providers often give bilirubin tests to check on the health of your liver. The bilirubin test is one of a comprehensive panel of What causes high bilirubin levels (hyperbilirubinemia)? Bilirubin might build up in your blood if: • Your body breaks down too many red blood cells too fast. You might be overproducing bilirubin if you have a • Your liver is struggling to process its normal load of bilirubin. Your liver might struggle with occasional toxic overload, or it might have a chronic • Your biliary system isn’t clearing bile efficiently. There might be a blockage in your What causes low bilirubin levels (hypobilirubinemia)? Certain medications can lower your bilirubin levels, including What does bilirubin do in your body? Bilirubin is a waste product of expired red blood cells. Normally, your body expels it through your intestines. On its way out, though, it may provide some benefits. Current studies suggest ...

Excessive newborn hyperbilirubinemia can cause permanent brain damage, that is, chronic bilirubin encephalopathy (BE), also known as kernicterus. The effort to understand and treat neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is for the most part an effort to prevent kernicterus and bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND), the latter referring to subtle neurodevelopmental disabilities without classical findings of kernicterus. Kernicterus is a pathological term originally used to describe the yellow staining (icterus) of the deep nuclei (kernel) of the brain, that is, the basal ganglia. More recently it has been used as a clinical term synonymous with chronic BE, the clinical syndrome encompassing long-term adverse neurodevelopmental sequelae corresponding to the pathological condition of kernicterus. The original pathological diagnosis included yellow staining and necrosis in the globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus (STN), brainstem nuclei, hippocampal CA-2, and cerebellar Purkinje cells. Today, modern neuroimaging can identify characteristic, almost pathognomonic brain lesions in children with ABE and chronic BE and with clinical neurophysiology using the auditory brainstem response (ABR) we can objectively identify the characteristic findings of both ABE and chronic BE. The clinical features of chronic BE range from deafness and severe dystonic/athetoid CP, seizures, or death (classic kernicterus) to subtle cognitive disturbances. The most extreme bilirubin-induced brain injur...

Overview Infant jaundice is yellow discoloration of a newborn baby's skin and eyes. Infant jaundice occurs because the baby's blood contains an excess of bilirubin (bil-ih-ROO-bin), a yellow pigment of red blood cells. Infant jaundice is a common condition, particularly in babies born before 38 weeks' gestation (preterm babies) and some breast-fed babies. Infant jaundice usually occurs because a baby's liver isn't mature enough to get rid of bilirubin in the bloodstream. In some babies, an underlying disease may cause infant jaundice. Symptoms Yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes — the main sign of infant jaundice — usually appears between the second and fourth day after birth. To check for infant jaundice, press gently on your baby's forehead or nose. If the skin looks yellow where you pressed, it's likely your baby has mild jaundice. If your baby doesn't have jaundice, the skin color should simply look slightly lighter than its normal color for a moment. Examine your baby in good lighting conditions, preferably in natural daylight. When to see a doctor Most hospitals have a policy of examining babies for jaundice before discharge. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that newborns be examined for jaundice during routine medical checks and at least every eight to 12 hours while in the hospital. Your baby should be examined for jaundice between the third and seventh day after birth, when bilirubin levels usually peak. If your baby is discharged earlier...

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Kernicterus, currently used to describe both the neuropathology of bilirubin-induced brain injury and its associated clinical findings, is a complex syndrome. The neurobiology of kernicterus, including the determinants and mechanisms of neuronal injury, is discussed along with traditional and evolving definitions ranging from classical kernicterus with athetoid cerebral palsy, impaired upward gaze and deafness, to isolated conditions, for example, auditory neuropathy or dys-synchrony (AN/AD), and subtle bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND). The clinical expression of BIND varies with location, severity, and time of assessment, influenced by the amount, duration and developmental age of exposure to excessive free bilirubin. Although total serum bilirubin (TSB) is important, kernicterus cannot be defined based solely on TSB. For study purposes kernicterus may be defined in term and near-term infants with TSB ≥20 mg/dl using abnormal muscle tone on examination, auditory testing diagnostic of AN/AD, and magnetic resonance imaging showing bilateral lesions of globus pallidus±subthalamic nucleus. Open Access articles citing this article. ...

A new mom calls the pediatrician's office, frantic. She thinks something is wrong with her newborn baby. She tells the nurse her baby is acting differently from when she took him home from the hospital. The baby is very sleepy, will not nurse, and his skin and eyes look yellow. The nurse tells the new mom to bring her baby in immediately. The early symptoms that a baby may display are jaundice, sleepiness, poor sucking, decreased muscle tone and absent reflexes. Mid-stage symptoms may include a bulging soft spot on their head, a high pitch cry, hyper flexed muscle tone, and seizures. End stage symptoms may be delays in learning and intelligence, seizures, muscle spasms or rigidity, and speech and hearing deficits. Extreme levels of bilirubin found in blood tests are those higher than 20-25mg/dl. Additional blood testing may be performed to see if the baby has a blood condition that may cause them to break down more red blood cells than normal. Treatment depends on the age of the baby (in days or even hours) and if the baby was born premature or full term. Usually, excess bilirubin is removed through the baby's urine and stool by binding to protein. So the baby's doctor may have the mother try to feed the baby more or administer intravenous fluids. Kernicterus is a serious medical condition that affects newborn babies. It is caused by a substance called bilirubin that results from broken down blood cells, which can accumulate in the brain and cause permanent neurological da...