1. This patient is a 2-day old infant, delivered at term after spontaneous labour and a forceps assisted delivery. The infant has been feeding well (breast) but has been observed to be jaundiced. Plasma bilirubin analysis has been requested and the results are as follows:
Sample: Serum Result Reference Range Units
Total Bilirubin 240 Up to 21 mol/L
Unconjugated 60 Up to 21 mol/L
fraction
a) Consider the pathological significance of these results and provide a detailed rationale as to how we could reassure the parents that this might be a benign finding. (50 marks)
b) Contrast this with a detailed account of how neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia could relate to more significant causes and what additional laboratory tests would have to be employed to discover this. (50 marks)
