[Clinical signs and etiological aspects of metabolic encephalopathies excluding liver encephalopathy and realimentation syndrome].

The clinical picture of metabolic encephalopathies has no aetiological specificity. It combines disturbances in conscious level dominated by disorientation and time and space and disturbances in motor activity, in particular tremor and asterixis. For each of the aetiologies studied, the following are considered: the circumstances of onset, the clinical and laboratory picture, the physiopathology and the treatment. From a diagnostic standpoint, particular emphasis should be placed upon the circumstances of onset which alone give any indication. The majority of these encephalopathies are caused by a lack of respect for simple rules in parenteral alimentation or by deficiencies. It is thus essentially an iatrogenic pathology. Treatment should be above all preventive.