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A Quisling on neonatal jaundice
1Department of Paediatrics, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. t.w.r.hansen@medisin.uio.no
Background/Methods:
Nils Andreas Quisling was born in Telemark, Norway, in 1854 and became an obstetrician. In 1893 he published a monograph on neonatal jaundice. This monograph was studied and compared with other published sources from the same time period.
Results:
Quisling discussed four theories on the cause of neonatal jaundice. "Suppression jaundice" held that jaundice was the result of suppressed liver function. "Haematogenous jaundice" claimed that bilirubin was formed from haemoglobin outside the liver, and had nothing to do with the liver. "Polycholia" held that neonatal jaundice was due to an increased secretion of all the constituents of bile. Quisling rejected these and supported the "hepatogenous" theory-jaundice was always a liver-related phenomenon. He described 50 cases of neonatal jaundice. The incidence of neonatal jaundice at the Kristiania Maternity Foundation was 26%. In Quisling's cases, gastrointestinal disturbances were common, and he felt this to be an under-reported complication of neonatal jaundice. He found that neonatal jaundice was often accompanied by fever.
Conclusion:
Gastrointestinal disturbances were causally involved in neonatal jaundice, resulting in impeded bile drainage. At the time of Quisling's study (1887), this "hepatogenous" theory of neonatal jaundice probably still had majority support in the European literature.
