Diagnostic and therapeutic advancement of maple syrup urine disease / 临床儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is an autosomally recessively inherited disorder of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolism caused by the defective activity of branched-chainα-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex (BCKD). The disease is characterized by severe ketoacidosis, mental retardation, and neurological impairments. So far, application of tandem mass spectrom-etry and HPLC has allowed newborn screening and early detection, but some patients with variant forms of the disorder will escape detection. Liver transplantation is an effective treatment. However, the rareness of liver donation limits the liver transplantation. In this review, the screening, diagnosis and therapy of MSUD will be discussed.