Isolated raised direct bilirubin

[hyangzhou]

Hi all,

I have a 5-week-old boy whose direct bilirubin is high (3.1 mg/dl), while other LFTs are all normal (AST, ALT, ALP, GGT). Has anyone seen this situation before? Any idea what this means?

We are waiting to do an ultrasound. Just being very nervous about my little baby, and thus posting here to see if anyone has any advices or thoughts. Thank you very much!

[Brahmatv]

Hii...Hyangzhou May God bless you . Usually birth time jaundice normalize within 1 or 2 week . If it takes beyond that then you should immediately contact to your pediatrician.

My son suffered from billiary atressia (a rare condition in which liver of child is not functioning well ) and later on he had to under gone surgery for Billiary Atressia and liver transplant. It was very painful for us .

This is my story , my son's other enzime were also disturbed. I am not scaring you but this is no time to sit and relax for you . Contact your pediatrician or even better a pedeatric gastroenterologist immediately and find out reason of his increased bilirubin. You are a lucky person that you have knowledge of this group . When my son suffered from billiary atressia I had not heard name of billiary atressia or liver transplant. We wasted a lot of time deciding what to do next. Drs had suggested HIDA SCAN ,a test in which some nuclear medicine is injected to see the path of billiary tree in body is clear and well functioning but due to name of nuclear medicine we hesitated a lot and wasted a lot of time .(in case of billiary atressia it is always good to get the the surgery done with in 2 months .sooner the better)

So as I told you it is no time to sit and relax at home and wait for bilirubin go down by itself .you should try to find out reason of increased bilirubin with help of gastroenterologist.

Your case seems different as your other enzymes , you said ,are normal .This is my sincere and honest advice for you .

May God be with you and bless you and your child .

[hyangzhou in reply to Brahmatv]

Dear Brahmatv, thank you very much for your advice! Yeah, we got to see a specialist yesterday and are scheduled to do a HIDA scan next week. It’s a very stressful time dealing all of these, and hopefully the results come out good.

[Brahmatv in reply to hyangzhou]

Don't worry about the hida scan it's a simple procedure . Probably they will admit for one day only .stay strong and hope for the best .may God be with you and your child . May God bless you and your child .

[Mbh3129 in reply to hyangzhou]

Hi, did it end up being OK? In a similar boat right now

[hyangzhou in reply to Mbh3129]

Hi Mbh3129,

I’m sorry that you are going through a similar thing, and hope all is well with you and your baby!

We have done many tests since my last post, including an ultrasound, the HIDA scan, many metabolic tests, and a genetic test, but we still don’t know the cause of the issue. My baby’s direct bilirubin has come down, but the liver enzymes (AST and ALT) becomes mildly elevated. The doctor doesn’t have a good explanation, and we are in the “wait and see” stage - monitoring the baby’s condition and doing blood tests every once a while. The baby is happy and healthy otherwise. We are praying for the baby to be able to self-resolve the issue one day.

Feel free to PM me if you want to connect and/or learn more about the details. Best wishes to you and your baby!

[Andk]

Hi, how is your baby now?