الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Objectives: to investigate the influence of phototherapy in treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia on the serum level of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Background: jaundice is the commonest clinical diagnosis in neonatal medicine. Phototherapy is the most commonly used intervention to treat severe hyperbilirubinemia, some investigations have expressed concern about phototherapy potential toxic effects, one possible harmful consequence is affection of cytokines production and lymphocyte sub types which can affect the function of the immune system of the newborn. A recent research has provided that phototherapy is associated with some long-term side effects such as melanocytic nevi and skin cancer, allergic diseases, asthma, patent ductus arteriosus and retinal damage. patients & methods: 30 patients with neonatal jaundice were included in this study having indirect bilirubin levels higher than 14 mg/dl and 15 healthy matched newborns were selected as controls. Blood samples were obtained from hyperbilirubinemic newborns before and at 72 hours of exposure to phototherapy and from controls at the examination time. Serum tumour necrosis factor alpha levels were measured in the samples by using enzyme linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Results: Serum tumour necrosis factor alpha levels in both patients before phototherapy and control group were similar. Serum TNF-α levels significantly increased after 72 hours of exposure to phototherapy, indicating the strong effect of phototherapy on TNF-α serum level which increased after exposure to phototherapy. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that in addition to the well-known positive effect of phototherapy on the neonatal serum bilirubin level, this therapeutic modality can affect the function of the immune system in newborns via alterations in TNF-α. |