Comparative Study of Branched Chain Amino Acids Infusion with Conventional treatment in patients with Hepatic Encephalopathy due to Liver Cirrhosis

摘要

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of branched chain aminoacid (BCAA) infusion with conventional therapy in the treatment ofhepatic encephalopathy (HE) due to liver cirrhosis.METHODOLOGY: This was a hospital based randomized controlledtrial, 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 gradeII, III and IV HE due to cirrhosis were included in the study. They wererandomly allocated into two groups by lottery method. Forty threepatients in group A were subjected to conventional treatment plus infusion?of BCAA (Aminoleban, Otsuka); while 43 patients in group B weresubjected to conventional treatment only, which consisted of antibioticsand lactulose. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. ‘Chisquare' test was used to compare the effectiveness in both groups withp value of 0.05 as significant.RESULTS: Out of 86 patients included in the study, 52(60.5%) weremales and 34 (39.5%) were females. Mean age of the sample was49.73±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 effectivethan conventional therapy in the treatment of HE due to liver cirrhosis.KEY WORDS: Hepatic Encephalopathy, Chronic Liver Disease, Branched Chain Amino acids.