What is jaundice or jaundice?
Definition of jaundice
Jaundice, or jaundice in medical parlance, is a yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes (coatings that line the body cavities). Its intensity can be more or less important and it often begins with a yellow coloration of the white of the eye.
This particular color is due to the accumulation in the blood of a protein, bilirubin, which is a degradation product of another protein contained in red blood cells, hemoglobin, which is responsible for transporting oxygen to the organs of the human body.
Indeed, the red blood cells are regularly renewed. They form in the bone marrow and after 120 days are destroyed in the spleen. The so-called free bilirubin, which comes from the hemoglobin then released, then goes to the liver where it is modified (bilirubin conjugated to glucuronic acid), so as to become soluble in water and to be able to be eliminated by kidney and digestive tract. It is the conjugated bilirubin that thus gives the urine the yellow color.
In different circumstances, however, an excess of bilirubin can occur which is then responsible for jaundice.
Risk factors
In adults, the risk factors for jaundice are represented by:
- Excessive consumption alcoholwhich may be responsible for alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver reducing hepatic capacity.
- Some drugs are also likely to damage the liver, and poisons (mushrooms for example).
- A diet too high in fat is also known to promote the formation of stones in the bile ducts because they are formed by the crystallization of cholesterol.
- Viral hepatitis:in the absence of vaccination against hepatitis A and B, the risks of contracting these infections are increased in the developing country (contamination by water for hepatitis A) or in the event of unprotected sex, d intravenous administration of drugs, or even certain treatments administered in areas where hygiene is insufficient (hepatitis B).
Our doctor’s opinion
The yellowing of the skin and eye does not in itself affect. Jaundice can only be serious in three kinds of situation. In the first place, when it signs an excessive accumulation of free bilirubin which cannot be eliminated, as is the case in neonatal jaundice, because there is then a neurological risk of damage to the brain. In other cases, the cause of jaundice calls for urgent treatment. This is the case in malformations of the bile ducts in newborns, infections, acute liver failure, etc. Finally, the severity can be linked to the cause: local cancer, in particular of the pancreas or of the bile ducts. Dr Patricia Thelliez |