(krĭg′lĕr-nah′jahr)

[John Fielding Crigler, U.S. physician, b. 1919; Victor A. Najjar, U.S. physician, 1914-2002]
One of two familial forms of congenital hyperbilirubinemia associated with brain damage as a result of bilirubin deposition in the brain (kernicterus). The syndrome is caused by an enzyme deficiency in the liver that causes faulty bilirubin conjugation. It is transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait; death may occur within 15 months after birth in its more severe form.