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Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. [3] [6] Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme metabolism, liver dysfunction, or biliary-tract obstruction. [7]
Hyperbilirubinemia is a clinical condition describing an elevation of blood bilirubin level due to the inability to properly metabolise or excrete bilirubin, a product of erythrocytes breakdown. In severe cases, it is manifested as jaundice, the yellowing of tissues like skin and the sclera when excess bilirubin deposits in them. [1]
[2] [1] A bilirubin level more than 34 μmol/L (2 mg/dL) may be visible. [1] Concerns, in otherwise healthy babies, occur when levels are greater than 308 μmol/L (18 mg/dL), jaundice is noticed in the first day of life, there is a rapid rise in levels, jaundice lasts more than two weeks, or the baby appears unwell. [1]
Gilbert syndrome is a phenotypic effect, mostly associated with increased blood bilirubin levels, but also sometimes characterized by mild jaundice due to increased unconjugated bilirubin, that arises from several different genotypic variants of the gene for the enzyme responsible for changing bilirubin to the conjugated form.
As unconjugated bilirubin has a high affinity to albumin, at high level it is not efficiently cleared through glomerular filtration and it binds to the elastic tissue of the skin and sclera, where high albumin content can be found. [25] This explains the yellow discolouration observed in these tissues in hemolytic jaundice.
Jaundice leads to raised bilirubin levels [25] > that in turn negatively remove elastin-rich tissues. [26] Jaundice may be noticeable in the sclera of the eyes at levels of about 2 to 3 mg/dl (34 to 51 μmol/L), [ 27 ] and in the skin at higher levels.
Various mutations of enzymes in the liver cells, which breakdown bilirubin, cause varying elevated levels of bilirubin in the blood. [2] These disorders may cause yellowing of the skin and eyes, called jaundice. [3] The prevalence of hereditary hyperbilirubinemia varies based on each disease.
Infant undergoing bili light therapy in a United States maternity ward. A bili light [1] [2] is a light therapy tool to treat newborn jaundice (hyperbilirubinemia).High levels of bilirubin can cause brain damage (kernicterus), leading to cerebral palsy, auditory neuropathy, gaze abnormalities and dental enamel hypoplasia.
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