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:
“If the study of all these sciences, which we have enumerated, should ever bring us to their mutual association and relationship, and teach us the nature of the ties which bind them together, I believe that the diligent treatment of them will forward the objects which we have in view, and that the labor, which otherwise would be fruitless, will be well bestowed.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“I am glad you agree with me as to the treatment of the mining riots. We shall crush out the lawbreakers if the courts and juries do not fail.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)