Efficacy of Circumferential Intensive Phototherapy in Treating Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia: A Pilot Study

Objective The present study was aimed at developing a circumferential phototherapy unit using 3M reflective materials in the double-sided phototherapy unit and investigating its efficacy in treating neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Study Design Forty-two infants with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia were selected from our hospital; they were randomly divided into control (n = 21) and experimental groups (n = 21). The experimental group was treated with the circumferential phototherapy unit, while the control group was treated with an ordinary phototherapy unit. Results No significant differences were noted between the two groups in the levels of transcutaneous bilirubin before phototherapy (p > 0.05). After 12 hours of phototherapy, the value of transcutaneous bilirubin decreased significantly in the experimental group compared with that of the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the two groups did not exhibit any significant difference in the side effects (p > 0.05). Conclusion Our results indicated that the circumferential phototherapy unit was more effective than the ordinary phototherapy unit in treating neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.