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Hyperammonemia, or high ammonia levels, is a metabolic disturbance characterised by an excess of ammonia in the blood. Severe hyperammonemia is a dangerous condition that may lead to brain injury and death. It may be primary or secondary. Ammonia is a substance that contains nitrogen. It is a product of the catabolism of protein.
Long-term management involves dietary protein restriction as well as arginine supplementation. In those with frequent episodes of metabolic decompensation or with hyperammonemia even when following a protein-restricted diet, daily oral nitrogen scavenging therapy may be successful.
Most of the organic acidemias result from defective autosomal genes for various enzymes important to amino acid metabolism.Neurological and physiological harm is caused by this impaired ability to synthesize a key enzyme required to break down a specific amino acid, or group of amino acids, resulting in acidemia and toxicity to specific organs systems.
A blood ammonia test is essential to uncover elevated ammonia levels (hyperammonemia), the classic sign of a urea cycle disorder. Resources on recognizing and testing for hyperammonemia are featured on the campaign website, checkammonia.com. Quickly diagnosing UCDs is critical.
These patients are under the risk of severe hyperammonemia during infections that can lead to comatose states. [13] Liver transplant is gaining a role in the management of these patients, with small series showing improved quality of life. [citation needed]
In THAN, symptoms of hyperammonemia are observed within 24 hours of birth, and the causation of hyperammonemia must exclude urea cycle disorders. If the amount of ammonia entering the brain is increased, neurological disorders such as urea cycle enzyme deficiencies, Reye syndrome , seizures, and encephalopathies may occur. [ 3 ]
This page was last edited on 28 May 2007, at 16:14 (UTC).; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply ...
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