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The causes of jaundice in the intensive care setting is both due to jaundice as the primary reason for ICU stay or as a morbidity to an underlying disease (i.e. sepsis). [48] In the developed world, the most common causes of jaundice are blockage of the bile duct or medication-induced.
The varied causes of hyperbilirubinemia are best understood from bilirubin metabolism. The total average daily production of bilirubin in humans is 4 mg/kg. 80% of which is derived from haemoglobin (Hb) produced by erythrocyte breakdown, with the remaining from heme proteins , like myoglobin and cytochrome , turnover. [ 5 ]
The underlying causes of hemolytic jaundice, as its name suggests, are disorders associated with hemolysis. Such disorders are manifold and the common causes include: Blood smear of a patient with sickle cell disease. The characteristic sickle-shaped appearance of red blood cells can be observed.
Bilirubin (BR) (from the Latin for "red bile") is a red-orange compound that occurs in the normal catabolic pathway that breaks down heme in vertebrates.This catabolism is a necessary process in the body's clearance of waste products that arise from the destruction of aged or abnormal red blood cells. [3]
Kernicterus is a bilirubin-induced brain dysfunction. [1] The term was coined in 1904 by Christian Georg Schmorl.Bilirubin is a naturally occurring substance in the body of humans and many other animals, but it is neurotoxic when its concentration in the blood is too high, a condition known as hyperbilirubinemia.
Hereditary hyperbilirubinemia refers to a group of conditions where levels of bilirubin, a byproduct of red blood cell metabolism, are elevated in the blood due to a genetic cause. [1] Various mutations of enzymes in the liver cells, which breakdown bilirubin, cause varying elevated levels of bilirubin in the blood. [ 2 ]
Jaundice is caused by the accumulation of biliverdin or bilirubin (or both) in the circulatory system and tissues. [1] Jaundiced skin and sclera (whites of the eyes) are characteristic of liver failure.
Jaundice of the skin or eyes is an important physical finding in biliary obstruction. Jaundice and/or clay-colored stool may raise suspicion of choledocholithiasis or even gallstone pancreatitis. [1] If the above symptoms coincide with fever and chills, the diagnosis of ascending cholangitis may also be considered.