Effects of ornithine alphaketoglutarate on blood insulin, glucagon and aminoacids in alcoholic cirrhosis.

After summing up existing theories about the origins and development of functional hepatic encephalopathy, the authors report on the effects of six-hour intravenous infusions of ornithine alphaketoglutarate (60 g dissolved in 500 ml distilled water), administered to 10 patients with ethylic hepatic cirrhosis in conjunction with a normal protein intake (70 g/day). Arterial blood ammonemia, venous blood aminoacidemia and the insulin/glucagon ratio did not vary during or after infusion. This method of treatment therefore seems to meet the protein requirements of these undernourished patients.