著者

TADAYOSHI KOBAYASHI YONOSUKE WATANABE

出版者

The Keio Journal of Medicine

雑誌

The Keio Journal of Medicine (ISSN:00229717)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1, no.3, pp.215-232, 1952 (Released:2009-03-27)

参考文献数

17

被引用文献数

3

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1) The authors reported four cases of kernicterus occurred in Japan.2) The incidence of kernicterus is very low in Japan. Only twelve cases of kernicterus, including the cases reported above, have been reported in Japan.3) Of the four cases reported above, two cases were associated with ery-throblastosis fetalis and in another two cases erythroblastosis fetalis could be reasonably excluded.4) Of the twelve cases of kernicterus reported in Japan, ten cases were not associated with erythroblastosis fetalis (83%). It is supposed that such high incidence of kernicterus without erythroblastosis fetalis would be related to some racial specifities.5) In agreement with W. W. Zuelzer and R. T. Mudgett(16), some differences were noticeable between the cases of kernicterus with erythroblastosis fetalis and those without erythroblastosis fetalis concerning the clinical and pathologic-anatomic findings.6) The formation of the characteristic giant cells was observed in the liver in three cases. These giant cells were considered to originate from both liver cells and Kupffer cells. These giant cells differ from megakaryocyte and the giant cell seen in the liver of syphilitic newborn. Only a few descriptions about giant cell formation in the liver, which was thought to be identical with that seen in the cases reported above, were available. The pathological significance of these giant cells is not clear, but there are some evidences showing that these giant cells are occasionally formed in the liver of newborns with severe icterus.7) The role of a specific icteric pigment in pathogenesis of kernicterus cannot be excluded.I would like to express our gratitude to Dr. T. Furuhata, professor of medical juris-prudence, Tokyo University School of Medicine, for his invaluable help for the determination of blood group and to Dr. M. Furuta and Dr. S. Kambe, pathologists to ABCC in Hiroshima, who kindely permit us to examine their slides of the cases of kernicterus.