Can jaundice cause cerebral palsy? How to treat it?

As we all know, jaundice is a very common disease in newborns. Generally speaking, if jaundice is not treated in time, it can easily cause harm to the health of the child. So, can jaundice cause cerebral palsy?

Can jaundice cause cerebral palsy?

If the jaundice of a newborn is too high and is not treated, it is very likely to cause vomiting in the newborn, and it will inevitably affect the brain. Therefore, high jaundice is likely to cause cerebral palsy.

Treatment of neonatal jaundice:

1. Light therapy

It is a simple and effective method to reduce serum unconjugated bilirubin. Unconjugated bilirubin can produce conformational isomers, structural isomers and photooxidation products after exposure to light. Among them, the formation of structural isomers is the most important. It can be quickly excreted from bile and urine without being metabolized by the liver. It is the main reason why phototherapy reduces total serum bilirubin.

The most commonly used method in China is blue light irradiation. Place the newborn baby in a phototherapy box, protect both eyes with black eye masks to avoid damaging the retina, cover the perineum and anus with a diaper, and leave the rest of the body exposed. Use single-sided or double-sided light irradiation for 2 to 48 hours (generally not more than 4 days). Continuous or intermittent irradiation can be used until the bilirubin drops below 7 mg/dL and the treatment can be stopped.

2. Exchange blood therapy

Exchange transfusion can effectively reduce bilirubin, replace sensitized red blood cells and alleviate anemia. However, blood transfusion requires certain conditions and may also produce some adverse reactions, so the indications should be strictly followed and it is generally used when phototherapy fails.

3. Medication

Use drugs to reduce bilirubin production, accelerate bilirubin clearance or inhibit bilirubin enterohepatic circulation, including supplying albumin, correcting metabolic acidosis, liver enzyme inducers (such as phenobarbital), and intravenous immunoglobulin.

4. Supportive treatment

The main thing is to actively prevent and treat hypoxia, hypercapnia, cold injury, hunger, infection, and hyperosmotic drug infusion, prevent temporary opening of the blood-brain barrier, and prevent the occurrence of bilirubin encephalopathy.