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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.
The diagnosis of hepatic encephalopathy is a clinical one, once other causes for confusion or coma have been excluded; no test fully diagnoses or excludes it. Serum ammonia levels are elevated in 90% of people, but not all hyperammonaemia (high ammonia levels in the blood) is associated with encephalopathy.
Adults with high blood ammonia levels: disorientation, confusion, slurred speech, unusual and extreme combativeness or agitation, stroke-like symptoms, lethargy and delirium. Many may be seen by neurologists or psychiatrists because of psychiatric symptoms, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Severe Transient Hyperammonemia is diagnosed when ammonia levels are above 50 μM up to as much as 4000 μM. Severe Transient Hyperammonemia causes neurological problems as ammonia levels in the brain are too high, which can cause infant hyptotonia as well as neonatal seizures. [5]
The catabolism of amino acids can lead to toxic levels of ammonia. Furthermore, there is a limited rate at which the gastrointestinal tract can absorb amino acids from proteins. [12] Uric acid is not a waste metabolite derived from protein metabolism, but many high protein diets also contain higher relative fractions of nucleic acids.
Ammonia is normally metabolized by the liver; as cirrhosis causes both decreased liver function and increased portosystemic shunting (allowing blood to bypass the liver), systemic ammonia levels gradually rise and lead to encephalopathy. [137] Most pharmaceutical approaches to treating hepatic encephalopathy focus on reducing ammonia levels. [138]
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