Manejo inicial de la hiperamonemia aguda en pediatría / Initial management of acute hyperammonemia in pediatrics

La hiperamonemia constituye una emergencia médica. No existen publicaciones que hagan referencia a la disponibilidad de recursos, insumos y conocimientos necesarios para el manejo inicial de esta por parte del pediatra en nuestro país, pero, según la experiencia de los autores, los recursos necesarios no se encuentran disponibles los 365 días del año en una gran porción de nuestro territorio. Sobre la base de este estado de situación, de una revisión bibliográfica internacional sobre el tema y de la experiencia de los autores, se elaboraron una serie de recomendaciones para el manejo pediátrico inicial de esta emergencia, que tienen como objetivo poder reducir las deficiencias, permitir una sospecha clínica adecuada que lleve a un diagnóstico y tratamiento de emergencia oportunos, con utilización racional de recursos farmacológicos (algunos de ellos de alto costo), para reducir la morbimortalidad que asocia la patología.

Hyperammonemia is a medical emergency. There are no publications regarding the availability of resources, supplies, and knowledge necessary for the initial management of hyperammonemia by pediatricians in Argentina; however, according to the authors' experience, the necessary resources are not available all year round in a large portion of our territory. Based on such state of affairs, an international bibliographic review on this topic and the authors' experience, we developed a series of recommendations for the initial pediatric management of this emergency, with the objective of reducing deficiencies, allowing adequate clinical suspicion leading to a timely diagnosis and emergency management and a rational use of pharmacological resources (some of which are costly) to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with hyperammonemia.

Novel Pathogenic Variant (c.580C>T) in the CPS1 Gene in a Newborn With Carbamoyl Phosphate Synthetase 1 Deficiency Identified by Whole Exome Sequencing

Diagnosis of the urea cycle disorder (USD) carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency (CPS1D) based on only the measurements of biochemical intermediary metabolites is not sufficient to properly exclude other UCDs with similar symptoms. We report the first Korean CPS1D patient using whole exome sequencing (WES). A four-day-old female neonate presented with respiratory failure due to severe metabolic encephalopathy with hyperammonemia (1,690 µmol/L; reference range, 11.2-48.2 µmol/L). Plasma amino acid analysis revealed markedly elevated levels of alanine (2,923 µmol/L; reference range, 131-710 µmol/L) and glutamine (5,777 µmol/L; reference range, 376-709 µmol/L), whereas that of citrulline was decreased (2 µmol/L; reference range, 10-45 µmol/L). WES revealed compound heterozygous pathogenic variants in the CPS1 gene: one novel nonsense pathogenic variant of c.580C>T (p.Gln194*) and one known pathogenic frameshift pathogenic variant of c.1547delG (p.Gly516Alafs*5), which was previously reported in Japanese patients with CPS1D. We successfully applied WES to molecularly diagnose the first Korean patient with CPS1D in a clinical setting. This result supports the clinical applicability of WES for cost-effective molecular diagnosis of UCDs.

Molecular diagnosis of urea cycle disorders: Current global scenario.

Urea cycle disorders are a group of inborn error of metabolism, characterized by hyperammonemia, metabolic alkalosis and clinical features of encephalopathy. These are among the commonest types of inborn errors of metabolism with a frequency of 1 in 8,000 to 1 in 30,000 in different population. This encompasses 5 major disorders, corresponding with deficiency of each step in the urea cycle, namely ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTC) deficiency, argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) deficiency, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase (CPS) deficiency, citrullinemia and argininemia. The most important clinical presentation is neurological abnormalities. The severity of UCD is correlated to extent of hyperammonemia. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for successful patient outcome. Various modalities of treatment have been recommended; namely, treatment aimed at reducing ammonia level, including drugs like sodium benzoate and sodium phenyl butyrate, neuroprotective strategies, low protein diet, liver transplantation and hepatocyte transplantation. Molecular diagnosis is important to identify the pathogenesis of these disorders as well as it helps in prognosis. This review intends to summarize the important aspects of molecular diagnostic studies on urea cycle disorders.