NEONATAL JAUNDICE AND KERNICTERUS

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to examine critically the available data bearing on the pathogenesis of kernicterus. During the past decade and a half, knowledge of the etiologic importance of incompatibility between the blood groups of the fetus and the mother has expanded rapidly. Nevertheless, sporadic reports of an association between jaundice and kernicterus in infants without hemolytic disease have been published.* The work of Zuelzer and Mudgett 1 and that of Aidin, Corner, and Tovey 2 require special mention. Their data indicate that, in absolute numbers, kernicterus is probably more commonly a complication of physiologic jaundice † than of isoimmunization. Systematic attempts to correlate the jaundice and the complications of these two forms of neonatal retention icterus are conspicuous by their paucity.‡ In the present communication, we shall first present additional evidence bearing on the lack of an obligatory association between kernicterus and hemolytic disease. Subsequently, pertinent data