LIVER TRANSPLANTATION/ENCEPHALOPATHY

对于某些人来说，肝移植是一种越来越被接受的治疗方法 肝病的类型 慢性或晚期肝病经常 会导致脑病，但迄今为止， 它决定了移植是否会导致功能恢复 这种神经系统疾病的影响。 拟议的调查将：1）阐明 慢性肝性脑病; 2）连续监测模式， 测量的脑病的变化幅度，持续2年， 肝移植; 3）阐明肝移植与肝硬化之间的关系。 肝脏疾病的生化特征以及肝脏形态学 脑病的特征，4）确定是否生化和 肝脏形态学特征可以预测功能性肝硬化的发生率 肝移植后脑病的恢复。 80名肝移植患者将与40名患者进行比较 消化性溃疡手术患者和80名正常社区居民 个体 受试者将接受四次检查， 尽可能靠近彼此。 评估时间表为：a） 移植前; B）移植后3个月; c）1年 移植后;和d）移植后两年。 每 在这种情况下，受试者将接受全面的医疗和实验室检查。 以及广泛的神经精神评估。 本研究的长期目标是阐明 肝性脑病的特征和恢复潜力，以及 为了确定肝移植在恢复 一个富有成效和健康的生活。

Liver transplantation is an increasingly accepted treatment for certain types of hepatic disease. Chronic or advanced hepatic illness frequently causes encephalopathy, but as yet, there have been no studies conducted which have determined if transplantation results in functional recovery from this neurological disorder. The proposed investigation will: 1) elucidate the characteristics of chronic hepatic encephalopathy; 2) serially monitor the pattern and magnitude of change in measured encephalopathy for two years following hepatic transplantation; 3) elucidate the association between the biochemical characteristics of hepatic illness as well as liver morphology characteristics on encephalopathy and, 4) determine if the biochemical and liver morphology characteristics can predict the rate of functional recovery from encephalopathy after liver transplantation. Eighty liver transplantation patients will be compared to forty patients undergoing surgery for peptic ulcer and to eighty normal community dwelling individuals. The subjects will be examined on four occasions matched as closely as possible to each other. The schedule of evaluation is: a) pre-transplantation; b) three months post-transplantation; c) one year post-transplantation; and d) two years post-transplantation. On each occasion, the subjects will receive a comprehensive medical and laboratory workup, as well as an extensive neuropsychiatric assessment. The long term objectives of this research are to elucidate the characteristics and potential for recovery from hepatic encephalopathy, and to determine the efficacy of hepatic transplantation in restoring the person to a productive and healthy life.