Report of 3 Patients With Urea Cycle Defects Treated With Related Living-Donor Liver Transplant

Abstract

Urea cycle defects are a group of metabolic disorders caused by enzymatic disruption of the urea cycle pathway, transforming nitrogen to urea for excretion from the body. Severe cases present in early infancy with life-threatening metabolic decompensation, and these episodes of hyperammonemia can be fatal or result in permanent neurologic damage. Despite the progress in pharmacologic treatment, long-term survival is poor especially for severe cases. Liver trans plant is an alternative treatment option, providing sufficient enzymatic activity and decreasing the risk of metabolic decompensation.

Three patients with urea cycle defects received related living-donor liver transplants at our hospital. Patients presented with late-onset ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, argininosuccinate lyase deficiency, and citrullinemia. Maximum pretransplant ammonia levels were between 232 and 400 mu mol/L (normal range is 18-72 mu mol/L), and maximum posttransplant values were 52 to 94 mu mol/L. All patients stopped medical treatment and dietary protein restriction for urea cycle defects after transplant. The patient with late-onset ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency already had motor deficits related to recurrent hyperammonemia attacks pretransplant. A major improvement could not be achieved, and he is wheelchair dependent at the age of 6 years. The other 2 patients had normal motor and mental skills before transplant, which have continued 12 and 14 months after transplant. Hepatic artery thrombosis in the patient with the ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, intra-abdominal infection in the patient with argininosuccinate lyase deficiency, and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in the patient with citrullinemia were early postoperative complications. Histopathologic changes in livers explanted from patients with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency and citrullinemia were nonspecific. The argininosuccinate lyase-deficient patient had portoportal fibrosis and cirrhotic nodule formation.

In conclusion, liver transplant was a lifesaving procedure for our patients. Proper timing for transplant is important because high ammonia levels may result in permanent neurologic damage; however, transplant at younger ages also may increase morbidity.