Introduction: current state of knowledge of hepatic encephalopathy

Excerpt

The basic idea of the first session that took place on the opening morning of! SHEN 2014 meeting was to have a series of lectures on what we already know primarily in the Clinical Science aspects of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). This session featured presentations on various aspects of HE. The sequences of the presentations were to have the two young investigators present first. These lectures were followed by presentations by Drs. Marsha Morgan, Tarek Hassanein and Dr. Gerald Kircheis. The first young investigator Dr. Kristiansen presented data on newer treatment strategies for hyperammonemia. While entitled “what we know” the new information on a novel pathway for ammonia handling using both glycine and the more familiar L-Ornithine was greeted with great interest. New data to most of us was also presented by Dr. Montliu who presented findings on white matter microstructural integrity in HE patients by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The subsequent presentations were more familiar territory. Marsha Morgan gave a very up to date presentation on non-absorbable disaccharides in the treatment of HE. Tarek Hassanein highlighted the advances in artificial Liver support systems. Finally Dr. Gerald Kircheis gave a very erudite lecture on the role of L-Ornithine L-aspartate in the management of HE. Each author has a brief section with a title, text, citation list and tables or figures. …