Prolonged jaundice in an apparently healthy baby: A review

Abstract

Jaundice persisting beyond 14 days of life is a commonly encountered problem in the neonatal follow-up clinic. Although by far the most common underlying etiology is breast milk jaundice, clinician should not miss out an important surgical condition the extrahepatic biliary atresia (an incidence of about 1 in 10000 live births) whose outcome without a surgical intervention before 8 weeks is dismal. Eminently treatable entities such as hypothyroidism and urinary tract infection also can present as prolonged jaundice. This article will synthesize the available literature on this topic and present an algorithm for evaluation of neonates presenting with prolonged jaundice useful to pediatricians in outpatient practice.