Comparison of the efficacy of a single phototherapy alone and a single phototherapy with low-cost reflecting curtains in lowering total serum bilirubin level in full term neonates with indirect hyperbilirubinemia / Mahmoud Fathy Ali Abdullah ; Supervised Mortada Elshabrawi , AbdElrahman Ahmed AbdElrazik

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Objective: Was to study the effect of using reflecting curtains on the management of neonatal indirect hyperbilirubinemia with phototherapy as regards: Efficacy, duration of phototherapy and hospital stay, and complications. Background: Hyperbilirubinemia is common in newborn; affecting about 60-80% of all babies in the 1st week of life. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated that phototherapy is effective for decreasing unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. Methods: This study was conducted on 180 full term neonates with indirect hyperbilirubinemia, recruited from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), The neonates were divided into two groups; 1) the study group (90) neonates receiving single phototherapy in incubators covered with reflecting curtains; 2) the control group (90) neonates receiving single phototherapy in incubators not covered with reflecting curtains. The serum bilirubin ( total-direct ) level was measured at the start of phototherapy and at 4 h then every 12 hours and 8 hours after being off phototherapy. Results: The rate of bilirubin decline during phototherapy was significantly higher in the study group (0.25±0.1 mg/dl/hr) than the control group (0.15 ± 0.06 mg/dl/hr) with p<0.001. The cover around phototherapy unit decreased total duration of phototherapy, cost, and time of hospitalization without increasing the complications. Conclusions: low cost reflecting curtains around the phototherapy unit reduce the duration of single phototherapy

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