Effectiveness of light emitting diode phototherapy for direct coombs positive newborns

Abstract

Background: Phototherapy is the most frequently used treatment when serum bilirubin levels exceed physiological limits. The direct antiglobulin titer (DAT) test is regarded as the cornerstone of diagnosis of immune hemolytic disease of the newborn. Methods: Patients with hyperbilirubinemia who were born in our hospital and whose gestational age was over 35 weeks were enrolled. DAT positive and DAT negative patients were compared in terms of light emitting diode (LED) phototherapy efficacy. Results: Seventy-seven cases were DAT-negative and 72 were DAT-positive. No statistically significant differences were found for the duration of phototherapy and hospitalization between the DAT-positive and negative groups. In the DAT-positive group, the phototherapy needs of the patients were determined to occur at an earlier stage (postnatal age 1.4 day, p<0.05), and the rate of patients requiring exchange transfusion, blood transfusion and intravenous immunoglobulin was found to be statistically significant higher in DAT-positive infants. Conclusions: Although LED phototherapy is effective in DAT-positive patients, the need for exchange transfusion and intravenöz immunoglobulin (IVIG) shows that there is still a need for more effective phototherapy in these patients.