OUR LADY OF FATIMA UNIVERSITY

College of Nursing - Valenzuela City

PROGRAM Bachelor of Science in Nursing Student Name Riany Lyn N. Ignacio

Year and Section BSN 2-YB-14
COURSE NCMA219 RLE Instructor Ms. Melanie Cambel
Date March 26, 2022

Laboratory Course Task 6

Reaction paper about the update regarding the use of incubators and phototherapy in high risk
newborn.

Phototherapy has been used to treat infant jaundice for sixty years. Phototherapy decreases total serum
bilirubin (TSB) levels by accelerating serum bilirubin isomerization into cyclobilirubin, also known as
lumirubin and photobilirubin II. Phototherapy should be used when a newborn's TSB exceeds the
phototherapy threshold. Phototherapy works by turning bilirubin into lumirubin, a water-soluble
molecule that may skip the liver and be eliminated in urine or stool. Phototherapy can be administered
using overhead lights or fiberoptic blankets that emit light with a wavelength of 430 to 490 nanometers,
which is most powerfully absorbed by the bilirubin molecule. According to the following references or
sources that I've read, phototherapy is recognized as the first option for treating neonatal jaundice
however, several studies have suggested that phototherapy may elicit a series of short and long-term
adverse effects associated with pediatric diseases, including hemolysis, allergic disease, DNA damage or
even cancer. There are many research papers indicating the different problems and theories that they
want to investigate regarding the phototherapy like its effectiveness and safety and effects of it using
different light sources on oxidant and antioxidant status of new born with jaundice. In all the sources that
I’ve seen and read I can say that phototherapy is still an option to treat infant jaundice and it is very useful
to the treatment of the said disease. Additionally, the therapeutic impact of phototherapy is determined
by the amount of light energy released in the effective wavelength range, the distance between the lights
and the newborn, the surface area of exposed skin, as well as the rate of hemolysis and in vivo bilirubin
metabolism and excretion. In the modern times, phototherapy is still very useful, efficient, and the best
option in the hospital concerning the management of neonatal jaundice. Through this course task it
expands my knowledge about phototherapy and I learn a lot of new things and ideas about its uses and
effects. Moreover, I was amazed and mesmerized about the things that I didn’t know yet about the
different aspects of phototherapy in high risk newborn.

References:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2341287920300028

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037837821300234X?fbclid=IwAR2xS3T0PbtSyv
cX6gIFt1uPV0CZKE81U8N4OKNTGfTCPphO6XHjQs6VBgU

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2341287920300028?fbclid=IwAR1SOpJYDHaFKRWq
Zw0xAnjNsIdXCc2fbSt-7RfXwHIXWJn9Z0cIdHA6EDE