[Double phototherapy with Wallaby optic fibers versus conventional phototherapy. Case reports].

The authors have valued the efficacy of the double phototherapy with fiberoptic Wallaby vs conventional phototherapy in 2 groups of term infants, without any complication at birth, utilized respectively as study group and control group. While conventional phototherapy produced a bilirubin reduction of 0.60 +/- 0.26% per hour (with a total reduction of 28.1 +/- 11.1%), the double phototherapy was statistically more effective (p < 0.05) then conventional phototherapy causing a bilirubin reduction of 0.73 +/- 0.28% (with a total reduction of 33.3 +/- 9.5%). At 24 hour after the interruption of the treatment 9 newborns of the study group (36%) and 7 of the control group (28%) presented a rebound effect (increase of the bilirubinemia more than 17 mumol/l), but without a statistical difference (p > 0.05). Our study shows that double phototherapy with Wallaby fiberoptic and conventional phototherapy represent a valid strategy in the treatment of the non haemolytic neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, because, compared to conventional phototherapy, double phototherapy is more effective and reduces the period of the treatment, showing a simple management of the jaundiced newborn.