DECREASE OF TOTAL SERUM-BILIRUBIN CONCENTRATION IN NEWBORN INFANTS AFTER PHENOBARBITONE TREATMENT

Further personal studies are reported on the ability of phenobarbitone to decrease the serum-bilirubin concentration in infants during the first week of life. 808 newborn babies, birth-weight over 2500 g., were treated with phenobarbitone in accordance with one of three different principles: administration to the pregnant woman only, to the infant only, or to both. The last treatment (50-100 mg. phenobarbitone per os daily to the pregnant woman for at least three days before delivery, followed by 5 mg. intramuscularly to the newborn 7-10 times in all during the first three days of life) proved the most effective—the decrease in infants with 13 mg. or more of bilirubin per 100 ml. serum was 94% and the highest value among the infants treated in this way was 13·2 mg. per 100 ml. This decrease in serum-bilirubin concentration is most probably due to induction of enzymes in liver microsomes by phenobarbitone.