A clinical trial of fiberoptic phototherapy vs conventional phototherapy
P. C. Holtrop, K. Madison and M. J. Maisels
Department of Pediatrics, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich. 48073-6769.
We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to compare fiberoptic
phototherapy with conventional phototherapy in healthy jaundiced newborns
with birth weights greater than 2500 g. Twelve patients received fiberoptic
phototherapy and 14 patients received conventional phototherapy. There were
no significant differences between the groups with respect to birth weight,
gestational age, feeding method, presence of hemolytic disease, hematocrit,
reticulocyte count, or initial serum bilirubin level. Measured irradiance
at 425 to 475 nm for conventional phototherapy was greater than that of
fiberoptic phototherapy (9.2 +/- 0.9 microW/cm2 per nanometer vs 8.2 +/-
1.2 microW/cm2 per nanometer). Both types of phototherapy lowered the level
of serum bilirubin after 18 hours of therapy (fiberoptic group, from 231
+/- 29 to 210 +/- 24 mumol/L; conventional group, from 231 +/- 21 to 188
+/- 26 mumol/L), but the mean serum bilirubin level was lower after 18
hours of therapy in the conventional phototherapy group (188 +/- 26 vs 210
+/- 24 mumol/L). There were no side effects in either group of newborns.
Both methods of phototherapy decreased the serum bilirubin level, but
conventional phototherapy did so more effectively, probably because of its
greater irradiance.
