Treatment
The treatment of urea cycle disorders consists of balancing dietary protein intake in order that the body receive the essential amino acids responsible for cell growth and development, but not so much protein that excessive ammonia is formed. This protein restriction is used in conjunction with medications which provide alternative pathways for the removal of ammonia from the blood. These medications are usually given by way of tube feedings, either via gastrostomy tube (a tube surgically implanted in the stomach) or nasogastric tube through the nose into the stomach. The treatment may also include supplementation with special amino acid formulas developed specifically for urea cycle disorders, multiple vitamins and calcium supplements. Frequent blood tests are required to monitor the disorders and optimize treatment, and frequently hospitalizations are necessary to control the disorder.
At the most extreme end of the spectrum, a few liver transplants have been done successfully as a cure to the disorder. This treatment alternative must be carefully evaluated with medical professionals to determine if potential of success as compared to the potential for new medical concerns.
Read more about this topic: Urea Cycle Disorder
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“To me, nothing can be more important than giving children books, It’s better to be giving books to children than drug treatment to them when they’re 15 years old. Did it ever occur to anyone that if you put nice libraries in public schools you wouldn’t have to put them in prisons?”
—Fran Lebowitz (20th century)
“Ambivalence reaches the level of schizophrenia in our treatment of violence among the young. Parents do not encourage violence, but neither do they take up arms against the industries which encourage it. Parents hide their eyes from the books and comics, slasher films, videos and lyrics which form the texture of an adolescent culture. While all successful societies have inhibited instinct, ours encourages it. Or at least we profess ourselves powerless to interfere with it.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“The treatment of the incident of the assault upon the sailors of the Baltimore is so conciliatory and friendly that I am of the opinion that there is a good prospect that the differences growing out of that serious affair can now be adjusted upon terms satisfactory to this Government by the usual methods and without special powers from Congress.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)