Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We report a 17-year-old female case of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency who died of brain edema due to hyperammonemic attack. The patient had a brother with OTC deficiency who had died of hyperammonemia at 17 years of age. She firstly had a symptom of headache, nausea, vomiting and myalgia at 14 years old and twice thereafter. On admission she had a severe disorientation and vomiting. The plasma ammonia level was 89 micrograms/dl, then increased to 400 micrograms/dl in five hours. In addition to plasma exchange, hemodialysis and then peritoneal dialysis for next 5 days, parenteral sodium benzoate and arginine were administered. Although the plasma ammonia level improved gradually, her consciousness never returned and she died of severe brain edema with uncontrollable hypotension on day 8. Histology of a necropsy liver sample showed fatty metamorphosis of hepatocytes mainly with fine lipid droplets. Electron micrograph of hepatocytes showed crystalloid inclusions in mitochondria. Significance of the clinical course and the treatment during hyperammonemic crisis was discussed.
 ...
PMID:[Abrupt onset and rapid deterioration in the course of congenital ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency: a case report]. 221 May 91

Liver transplantation (LT) has been adopted as a radical treatment for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD), yielding favorable outcomes. Despite the fact that it is an inheritable disease, a blood relative who is heterozygous for the disorder must sometimes be used as a liver donor for living donor LT. There is ongoing discussion regarding the use of heterozygous donors, however, to our knowledge, no cases where donation was determined based on the Ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) activity before LT have been reported. Between May 2001 and April 2011, 17 patients were indicated for living donor LT because of OTCD at our facility. There were three cases with heterozygous donor candidate (17.6%). All heterozygous candidates underwent a liver biopsy to measure their OTC activity before LT and made efforts to secure the safety of the both donor and recipient. Two of 3 candidates had headaches sometimes, and their activity was less than 40%, and thus they were not employed as the donor. One candidate with 104.4% activity was employed, yielding favorable outcomes. Our current experience supported the effectiveness of our donation criteria, however it is necessary to collect sufficient data on a large number of patients to confirm the safety of the procedure.
 ...
PMID:Living donor liver transplantation from an asymptomatic mother who was a carrier for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. 2258 34