Correlations between magnetic resonance spectroscopy alterations and cerebral ammonia and glucose metabolism in cirrhotic patients with and without hepatic encephalopathy

摘要

BackgroundHepatic encephalopathy is considered to be mainly caused by increased ammonia metabolism of the brain. If this hypothesis is true, cerebral glucose utilisation, which is considered to represent brain function, should be closely related to cerebral ammonia metabolism. The aim of the present study was to analyse whether cerebral ammonia and glucose metabolism in cirrhotic patients with early grades of hepatic encephalopathy are as closely related as could be expected from current hypotheses on hepatic encephalopathy.