Y. Amitai et al., TREATMENT OF NEONATAL HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA WITH REPETITIVE ORAL ACTIVATED-CHARCOAL AS AN ADJUNCT TO PHOTOTHERAPY, Journal of perinatal medicine, 21(3), 1993, pp. 189-194
The efficacy of multiple dose oral activated charcoal (OAC) therapy fo
r neonatal hyperbilirubinemia was prospectively studied in 30 jaundice
d newborns receiving phototherapy, randomly assigned to a study group
(n = 14) or control group (n = 16). The study group received OAC befor
e meats with a total amount of 8.5 +/- 0.85 gms (M +/- SEM). Serum bil
irubin levels upon initiation of phototherapy were (M +/- SEM) 265 +/-
8 and 253 +/- 4 mumol/L respectively. After 24 hours there was no sig
nificant decrease in serum bilirubin levels in the control group (M +/
- SEM = 240 +/- 8 mumol/L) but bilirubin levels of the study group dec
reased (M +/- SEM = 235 +/- 7 mumol/L, p < 0.02). At 48 hours serum bi
lirubin levels were significantly lower than baseline values in both g
roups. However. the decline in bilirubin levels in the study group (M
+/- SEM = 56 +/- 10 mumol/L) was greater than that of the controls (M
+/- SEM = 21 +/- 10 mumol/L p < 0.02). Oral activated charcoal seems t
o be an effective adjunct to phototherapy in the treatment of neonatal
hyperbilirubinemia.