الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 120 |  |  |
| | | from | 120 | | |
Abstract
Objectives: to investigate the influence of phototherapy in treatment of
neonatal hyperbilirubinemia on the serum level of tumour necrosis factor alpha
(TNF-α).
Background: jaundice is the commonest clinical diagnosis in neonatal
medicine. Phototherapy is the most commonly used intervention to treat severe
hyperbilirubinemia, some investigations have expressed concern about
phototherapy potential toxic effects, one possible harmful consequence is
affection of cytokines production and lymphocyte sub types which can affect
the function of the immune system of the newborn. A recent research has
provided that phototherapy is associated with some long-term side effects such
as melanocytic nevi and skin cancer, allergic diseases, asthma, patent ductus
arteriosus and retinal damage.
patients & methods: 30 patients with neonatal jaundice were included in this
study having indirect bilirubin levels higher than 14 mg/dl and 15 healthy
matched newborns were selected as controls. Blood samples were obtained
from hyperbilirubinemic newborns before and at 72 hours of exposure to
phototherapy and from controls at the examination time. Serum tumour
necrosis factor alpha levels were measured in the samples by using enzyme
linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA) kits.
Results: Serum tumour necrosis factor alpha levels in both patients before
phototherapy and control group were similar. Serum TNF-α levels significantly
increased after 72 hours of exposure to phototherapy, indicating the strong
effect of phototherapy on TNF-α serum level which increased after exposure to
phototherapy.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that in addition to the well-known
positive effect of phototherapy on the neonatal serum bilirubin level, this
therapeutic modality can affect the function of the immune system in newborns
via alterations in TNF-α.