Disease or Syndrome
kernicterus
Subclass of:
Brain Diseases, Metabolic;
Erythroblastosis, Fetal;
Hyperbilirubinemia
Etymology:
German kern = nucleus + Greek ikteros = jaundice
A term used by Schmorl, in 1903, for what Orth, in 1875, had named nuclear jaundice.
A term used by Schmorl, in 1903, for what Orth, in 1875, had named nuclear jaundice.
Also called:
Bilirubin Encephalopathy
Definitions related to kernicterus:
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A condition characterized by sensorineural hearing impairment, choreoathetoid movements, paralysis of upward gaze and hypoplasia of dental enamel due bilirubin deposition in the grey matter of the central nervous system as a consequence of increased levels of unconjugated bilirubin in the serum.NICHD Pediatric TerminologyU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A rare neurologic disorder occurring in infants with jaundice. It results from brain damage by existing high levels of unconjugated-indirect bilirubin.NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A term used pathologically to describe BILIRUBIN staining of the BASAL GANGLIA; BRAIN STEM; and CEREBELLUM and clinically to describe a syndrome associated with HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA. Clinical features include athetosis, MUSCLE SPASTICITY or hypotonia, impaired vertical gaze, and DEAFNESS. Nonconjugated bilirubin enters the brain and acts as a neurotoxin, often in association with conditions that impair the BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER (e.g., SEPSIS). This condition occurs primarily in neonates (INFANT, NEWBORN), but may rarely occur in adults. (Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p613)NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Brain disorder associated with high levels of bilrubin; clinical features include athetosis, muscle spasticity or hypotonia, impaired vertical gaze, and deafness; nonconjugated bilirubin enters the brain and acts as a neurotoxin, often in association with conditions that impair the blood-brain barrier; this condition occurs primarily in neonates with perinatal blood incompatibilities, but may rarely occur in adults.CRISP ThesaurusNational Institutes of Health, 2006
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Damage to cerebral nuclei caused in infants by highly increased levels of unconjugated bilirubin. The basal ganglia and brainstem nuclei could be shown to have a yellow staining historically in infants who died of kernicterus, that is, kernicterus is strictly speaking a pathological diagnosis. The presence of kernicterus may be inferred in infants with characteristic acute or chronic bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction.Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO)The Human Phenotype Ontology Project, 2021
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Kernicterus is brain damage caused by unconjugated bilirubin deposition in basal ganglia and brain stem nuclei. Normally, bilirubin bound to serum albumin stays in the intravascular space. However, bilirubin can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause kernicterus when serum bilirubin concentration is markedly elevated...Merck & Co., Inc., 2020
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Kernicterus refers to brain damage that may occur when neonatal jaundice goes untreated for too long. Physiologic neonatal jaundice (which can affect about 60% of all newborn babies) is a very common condition in which the skin and whites of the eyes are yellowish in color within a few days after birth, due to high levels of a yellow...National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
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Kernicterus, severe brain damage caused by an abnormal concentration of the bile pigment bilirubin in brain tissues at or shortly after birth. Kernicterus may occur because of Rh blood-group incompatibility between mother and child, as in erythroblastosis fetalis, where the mother's immune system...Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020
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