ABSTRACT
Se informa el caso de un neonato que desarrolló encefalopatía en el transcurso de los primeros tres días de vida. Presentaba hipo persistente, que evolucionó a coma profundo 72 horas después de la admisión al hospital. Los parámetros de septicemia y el análisis del líquido cefalorraquídeo (LCR) fueron normales. Tras la evaluación metabòlica, se confirmó la presencia de hiperamoniemia e hipercitrulinemia. El índice de la concentración de LCR/glicina en plasma era normal. Esto no coincidió con nuestro diagnóstico inicial de hiperglicinemia no cetósica, que suele manifestarse con hipo. Se recomienda tener en cuenta la deficiencia de ácido argininosuccínico sintetasa (ASD por su sigla en inglés; citrulinemia) de inicio neonatal en el diagnóstico diferencial de encefalopatía asociada con hipo durante el período neonatal, lo que sugiere una enzimopatía congénita.
We report an infant who developed encephalopathy within the first 3 days of life. He had persistent hiccups that progressed to deep coma 72 hours after admission. The sepsis parameters and cerebrospinal fluid examination (CSF) were normal. The metabolic evaluation confirmed hyperammonemia, and hypercitrullinemia. The ratio of CSF/plasma glycine concentration was normal. This did not agree with our initial diagnosis of nonketotic hyperglycinemia where hiccups is present more often. Neonatal onset of argininosuccinic acid synthetase deficiency (ASD; citrullinemia) should be brought in mind in the differential diagnosis of encephalopathy in association with hiccups in the neonatal period suggesting inborn errors of metabolism.
Subject(s)
Humans , Infant, Newborn , Male , Citrullinemia/diagnosis , Citrullinemia/complications , Hiccup/etiologyABSTRACT
Remarkable improvements in public health, nutrition, hygiene, and availability of medical services in the last 20 years have significantly reduced infant and childhood mortality in Thailand. Therefore, many rare and previously unidentified genetic disorders, which, in the past, usually led to the death of affected infants before a definitive diagnosis, have now been increasingly recognized. Recently, we identified three unrelated patients from Thailand who suffered from citrullinemia, one of five inherited types of urea cycle disorders. All were diagnosed within their first few weeks of life. Biochemical analyses, including plasma amino acid and urine organic acid profiles, are consistent with argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) deficiency. Extensive mutation study by direct genomic sequencing of ASS demonstrated a homozygous G117S mutation in one patient and homozygous R363W mutations in the other two families.