Role of Ammonia in Hepatic Encephalopathy Essay Example for Free

Role of Ammonia in liverwort brain disorder EssayThe human liver is truly amazing, however little is ever verbalise about the organ. Most people probably wouldnt be suitable to locate their liver if theyre asked to do so. The second largest organ in the body and weighing about 3 pounds, the liver is fixed right under your rib cage on the right side of your body. It is the only organ that is able to regenerate. While most organs replace damage with scar tissue, the liver has the ability to replace disgraced tissues with new cells. The primary function of the liver is to process food that has been consumed into nutrients and filter out any detrimental substances that may be the bloodstream.The liver is responsible for keeping our blood suitable for our bodies. With that understood it saddens me to say that in that location is an estimated 30 million people living in the U.S. with liver failure. These 30 million people argon unable to filter out any harmful toxins that may b e flowing in their bloodstream. With fourth dimension they may began to assemble from Hepatic brain disorder. Described as episodes of confusion and altered levels of consciousness Hepatic brain disease is caused by to an accumulation of ammonia in the bloodstream that would usually be filtered out by the liver.Although Hepatic encephalopathy is completely reversible with treatment there are very few treatments available. Pharmaceutical confine saved many lives through experimental studies and treatments. Although very controversial many people choose to recruit in these studies in hopes of increasing their chances to live a normal life despite suffering from an ailment. I chose to do my assignment on a double-blinded think over on the use of Glycerol Phenylbutyrate (also known as Ravicti) in patients with Episodic Hepatic Encephalopathy.The study was completed by Dr. Don Rockey who is the Chief of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. While delivering his ora l presentation which he titled Randomized, Dr. Rockey mentioned the study results fork up new insight into the importance of ammonia in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy. Based on its safety profile, Hyperions investigational drug, Glycerol Phenylbutyrate shows promise as a novel therapeutic agent.The study was conducted with a total of 178 patients selected randomly. 50 of who were on the drug Rifaximin which is a drug also commonly used to prevent episodes of heptatic encephalopany. 29 of the 178 patients were pose on placebo and the remaining 30 patients were placed on the busy drug Ravicti. If effective those on the active drug Ravicti should expect to see fewer levels of ammonia in the blood, thus resulting in fewer episodes of heptatic encephalopany. Ho = Patients placed on Ravicti will see no multifariousness in ammonia levels in the bloodstream and will continue to have Hepatic Encephalopathy episodes.H1 = Patients placed on Ravicti will see change in ammonia le vels in the bloodstream and will have little to no Hepatic Encephalopathy episodes. The results from the study conclude that among the 119 patients not on Rifaximin showed a highly statistical significant reduction among do by patients with 10% vs. 32% (p= 0.003.) Among the patients in the active part of the study experienced fewer Hepatic Encephalopathy episodes 21% vs. 36% (p=0.021.) Those in the active study also reported ammonia levels to be importantly lower 45.7 vs. 58.15 umol/L, (p=0.0036) (p 0.01).A concern I noticed while researching this study is the accuracy of the statistical results since this study was two sided this means that curtain results were expected by both the test subjects and its administers. This study was also make on a small population of people, which is a bias in itself since the sample population lacks diversity. Factors uniform diet, environment and previous medications were not mentioned in the study which also can contribute to hepatic encephalo pathy episodes. Another key factor that is important to gaining a reasonable sample through population is a correlation between test subjects. It was never mentioned in the article what type of liver failure the subjects suffer from nor did the article specify the severity of their condition.Works CitedAnnes, Shari. HALT-HE Study Underscores Role of Ammonia in Hepatic Encephalopathy.Drugs.com MedNews. Micromedex, Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. http//www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/halt-he-study-underscores-role-ammonia-hepatic-encephalopathy-14702.html.A New and Unique Way to Measure Liver Function. Liver Disease Questions. Liver affiliation of America, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. http//www.hepquant.com/liver-disease-faq.php.