Comparison of the efficacy of conventional special blue light phototherapy and fiberoptic phototherapy in the management of neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia

The efficacy and usefulness of two types of phototherapy differing in the source, wavelength and irradiance of the light, conventional phototherapy consisting of special blue light and fiberoptic phototherapy, were compared in a relatively larger series of term newborns with non-haemolytic and more significant hyperbilirubinaemia than those in previous studies. In total, 108 newborns were allocated sequentially to receive either conventional phototherapy consisting of five special blue lamps or fiberoptic phototherapy. The average spectral irradiance measured at the skin surface level of newborns during the study period was significantly greater in the conventional phototherapy group. The special blue lamp of the conventional phototherapy unit had an emission spectrum almost identical to the bilirubin absorption spectrum, whereas the tungsten-halogen lamp of the fiberoptic phototherapy had a broad emission through the blue and green wavelengths (mainly in the green spectrum). Phototherapy was more effective in the conventional phototherapy group; the duration of exposure to phototherapy (h) was significantly shorter, and the overall bilirubin decline rate (as micromol/l/h and %/h) was significantly greater in the conventional phototherapy group. According to the nursing personnel, fiberoptic phototherapy was more comfortable than the conventional phototherapy frame because of the easier accessibility and handling of the infants during phototherapy. They complained of giddiness, nausea, glare, temporary blurring of vision and difficulty in detecting the skin colour changes of newborns with the blue light of the conventional phototherapy unit. Conventional phototherapy consisting of special blue fluorescent lamps with approximately twofold higher irradiance and an emission spectrum almost identical to the bilirubin absorption spectrum is preferable to fiberoptic phototherapy in the standard treatment of term newborns with non-haemolytic hyperbilirubinaemia.