Does intensive phototherapy produce hemolysis in newborns of 35 or more weeks gestation?

Abstract

Because there is some in vivo and in vitro evidence that standard phototherapy might produce hemolysis, we wished to know whether intensive phototherapy produces hemolysis. We measured end-tidal carbon monoxide (CO) concentration corrected for ambient CO (ETCOc) in 27 newborn infants > or =35 weeks gestation receiving intensive phototherapy (average irradiance 43 microW/cm2/nm). There was a steady decrease in the mean ETCOc over the course of the phototherapy. Intensive phototherapy did not produce hemolysis in infants > or =35 weeks gestation.