TRANSCUTANEOUS BILIRUBINOMETRY AS A SCREENING TOOL FOR NEONATAL JAUNDICE

Between 25 and 50% of all term newborns develop clinical jaundice, and a serum bilirubin level above 260 microml/l (15 mg/dl) is found in 3% of normal term infants. In the United Kingdom many newborn infants wi th clinical jaundice have blood samples sent to biochemistry laborator ies for assessment of the plasma bilirubin concentration. We planned t o assess the cost in terms of finance, medical staff time, numbers of blood samples, and family delay in leaving hospital. We demonstrated t hat reflectance bilirubinometry is a reliable screening method for ide ntifying which caucasian infants require to have plasma bilirubin conc entrations measured in the laboratory. The Minolta Airshields transcut aneous bilirubinometer provided reproducible data, saved time and cost s, and often spared infants a capillary or venous blood sample. The tr anscutaneous bilirubinometer provides a digital assessment of skin pig mentation by xenon reflectance. It has previously been shown to be pos sible to derive an estimate of plasma bilirubin from the number displa yed by the meter and it is suggested as a method for identifying which infants need plasma bilirubin estimations.