label: Kernicterus
label_lc: kernicterus
description: "Damage to cerebral nuclei caused in infants by highly increased levels of unconjugated bilirubin. The basal ganglia and brainstem nuclei could be shown to have a yellow staining historically in infants who died of kernicterus, that is, kernicterus is strictly speaking a pathological diagnosis. The presence of kernicterus may be inferred in infants with characteristic acute or chronic bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction."