A bilirubinometer is often purchased by medical institutions, or parents of young children. This specificity is explained by the fact that with its help it is possible to accurately assess fetal hemoglobin in newborns. And if adults get by with a standard biochemical test, then it can be difficult for babies to pass it.
Difficulties are added by the fact that the characteristics of fetal hemoglobin differ from the adult counterpart. At the same time, the human body is configured in such a way as to produce “normal hemoglobin”, destroying its fetal counterpart. As a result, a side effect is the production of large amounts of free bilirubin.
Shape transformation is carried out in the liver cells, which do not always have time to cope with the tasks. In the saddest scenario, jaundice begins to develop rapidly in babies. It is physiological or pathological in nature.
Laboratory at home
For newborns, jaundice is a fairly common pathology, but in order to neutralize its consequences, doctors will first need to find out the source of the deviation. Here, a set of laboratory tests is indispensable.
The most important algorithm is the monitoring of direct and indirect bilirubin in the blood. If a few years ago, for an examination of this kind, it was mandatory to go to the hospital and donate blood, today it is enough to use a digital device to calculate this component of the body.
Its price is beyond the reach of many patients who have to monitor the presented component on an ongoing basis. Because of this, victims still have to seek help from clinics or specialized laboratories. But instead of donating blood, the examination is less painful.
You will need a bilirubinometer, named after the component itself that needs measurements, not only to diagnose jaundice in newborns.
It is also used for extensive applications. The list of possible exploitation even included emergency medicine, which should be provided after the diagnosis of alcohol, drug or drug intoxication.
No less often, doctors resort to the help of a compact device, keeping a medical history of victims due to hepatitis, or various abnormalities in the functioning of the liver. No wonder the device is attracted even at the preparatory stage in surgery. There is in the form of preparation for liver transplantation.
Obstetrics stands apart, where it will be necessary to identify the latent course of hemolytic disease, which newborns are prone to. The norms and indicators of deviations during measurements will already be announced by the specialist who conducted the study.
The entire evaluation process is based on the chemical characteristics of bilirubin, which is not able to dissolve on its own in the blood. First, the cells have to try to turn it into a soluble form. For this, the body will need to use albumin. So called special proteins.
Their main goal is to assist in the transportation of bilirubin, which still remains intact. This version of the element is called free. To qualitatively transform it, proteins have to transport substances to the liver cells.
Free bilirubin, despite its importance in dissolved form, is toxic to all other cells before entering the liver. Only after being sent to the liver is it formatted into a safe form, representing direct bilirubin. The latter is easily soluble in water, actively filtered by the kidneys and excreted from the body naturally through the urine. But for its natural neutralization, the substance must first react with glucuronic acid.
How are measurements taken?
Equipment designed to measure bilirubin levels can often be found in obstetrics departments or ordinary clinical laboratories in hospitals with an inpatient department.
Initially, laboratory technicians used the standard approach, which involved the Van den Berg reaction with reagents. For the experiment, blood was taken from a venous vessel.
As the medical field advanced, experts began to use reagentless methods for direct plasma photometry. Here the classical bilirubinometer occupies a dominant place. Due to the capabilities of such a device, it is possible to determine the optical density of blood plasma, using the basics of photometry. Waves of 492 and 523 nm are used for testing.
The collected data is automatically reformatted into information about the concentration of the substance. Here, the main advantage lies in the fact that consumers do not have to pay for additional reagents or dispensers.
A non-reagent approach is especially relevant in the case when the victim is only suspected or has already been diagnosed with moderate to severe hyperbilirubinemia. Such ailments require repeated laboratory tests without fail.
Later, specialists began to use the transcutaneous method, which is now widely used in pediatrics and neonatology. This method belongs to the category of non-invasive measures, which is applied through the skin without the need to break the integrity of the skin.
Analyzers are portable devices designed to determine the concentration of bilirubin without the need to get the newborn out of the incubator. Instead, a sensitive device sensor must be applied to the forehead and upper chest of the baby.
After activation of the system, the process of measuring total blood bilirubin starts, which is based on the attraction of two wavelengths: 492 and 523 nm. The presented diagnosis is called screening. Its important advantages, in addition to non-invasiveness, are painlessness and the absence of restrictions on the number of procedures.
The reagent-free and screening methods involve the use of bilirubinometers, which simplifies both the diagnostic measure itself and the assessment of the state of the studied composition.