Comparative Study of Branched Chain Amino Acids Infusion with Conventional treatment in patients with Hepatic Encephalopathy due to Liver Cirrhosis
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of branched chain amino
acid (BCAA) infusion with conventional therapy in the treatment of
hepatic encephalopathy (HE) due to liver cirrhosis.
METHODOLOGY: This was a hospital based randomized controlled
trial, conducted in the department of medicine, Lady Reading Hospital,
Peshawar from February 2012 to July 2012.
A total number of 86 patients, of either gender, presenting with grade
II, III and IV HE due to cirrhosis were included in the study. They were
randomly allocated into two groups by lottery method. Forty three
patients in group A were subjected to conventional treatment plus infusion of BCAA (Aminoleban, Otsuka); while 43 patients in group B were
subjected to conventional treatment only, which consisted of antibiotics
and lactulose. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. ‘Chi
square’ test was used to compare the effectiveness in both groups with
p value of < 0.05 as significant.
RESULTS: Out of 86 patients included in the study, 52(60.5%) were
males and 34 (39.5%) were females. Mean age of the sample was
49.73±7.958 years with age range from 35 to 70 years. After the administration of BCAA infusion twice daily for 3 days, clinical improvement was observed in 33 (76.7%) patients in group A while in group B only 10 (23.3%) patients improved clinically, showing p-value <0.001.
CONCLUSION: Branched chain amino acids infusion is more effective
than conventional therapy in the treatment of HE due to liver cirrhosis.
KEY WORDS: Hepatic Encephalopathy, Chronic Liver Disease, Branched Chain Amino acids.
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