Circulatory system changes by electrical cardiometry in neonates with unconjugated hyper-bilirubinemia before versus after phototherapy

Background Unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia treatment is well known, but the extent of bilirubin damage to the organs and its mechanisms are still being investigated. A great number of these studies have mainly focused on its neurotoxicity, however, a few studies have investigated its effects on the circulatory system. Aim The purpose of this work was to assess the circulatory system in full-term neonates with hyper-bilirubinemia that needs phototherapy (Pht) to identify hemodynamic changes (if any) and to identify the cause of this hemodynamic changes whether due to the effect of hyper-bilirubinemia or Pht. Patients and methods In this prospective cohort study, electrical cardiometry was performed for 40 full-term neonates with unconjugated hyper-bilirubinemia before and after Pht as the patient group (group 1) as well as for 40 healthy full-term neonates with no jaundice as the control group (group 2). Results There was no significant difference in electrical cardiometric parameters between the patient group before the Pht and the control group. Stroke volume (SV) and stroke index (SI) significantly decreased and heart rate (HR) significantly increased in the patient group after Pht, ( P <0.001). Meanwhile, cardiac output and cardiac index did not differ significantly in the patient group after and before Pht, ( P 0.136 and 0.109, respectively). Conclusion Hyper-bilirubinemia itself has no significant effect on the circulatory system assessed by electrical cardiometry. Pht has an effect on SV, SI, and HR by decreasing both SV and SI while increasing HR.