00:00
This one has one of my
favorite medical terms,
hyperbilirubinemia.
00:05
It's just fun to say,
let's break it down.
00:09
Hyper means elevated,
bilirubin is the substance
that we're testing for,
and emia means in blood.
00:16
So when someone has
hyperbilirubinemia,
that means they're
bilirubin level is too high.
00:22
It's going to be
larger than 1.2.
00:25
Keep in mind bilirubin is
one of the waste products
when old red blood
cells are worn out
and they're being removed
and recycled by the liver.
00:34
Now, you need a good
drainage system.
00:36
This is what happens and why the
bilirubin level will be high in the blood.
00:41
Look at the liver.
00:42
You see got a big backup
sign right over the liver
because when bilirubin can't
make it to the intestines
to be broken down and excreted
it will build up in other areas.
00:53
That's when the circulating blood
levels of bilirubin will go up.
00:58
So normally I'm expecting
liver to make the bile,
drop it down to that
hepatobiliary system,
might store a little
bit in the gallbladder,
but it's going to keep on traveling
down the hepatobiliary system
till it ends up at the sphincter
of oddi the ampulla of vater.
01:13
That's where it will be dropped
into the small intestine,
so the bile is delivered
through that sphincter of
oddi in the ampulla of vater.
01:22
If we've got a stone in there,
bilirubin isn't able to make it
down to that small intestine.
01:27
So that's why it's
going to back up
and you end up with
bilirubin levels rising.