Neostigmine and polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution for the therapy of acute hepatic encephalopathy with liver cirrhosis and ascites.

ABSTRACT

We treated a 75-year-old man who had non-B and non-C, and Child's class C liver cirrhosis and acute hepatic encephalopathy with neostigmine and polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution. He received repeated transcatheter artrial embolization and percutaneous ethanol injection combination therapy for multiple hepatocellular carcinomas, which controlled his disease for 25 months from the first treatment. He was admitted in a state of hepatic coma after being found unresponsive at his home. With the consent of the patient's family, we gave him 1.0 mg of neostigmine intramuscularly to improve his peristaltic movement, and 2 L of polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution through a nasogastric tube for 4 hours to reduce the production and absorption of gut-derived toxins of nitrogenous compounds. Using these treatments, the blood ammonia level decreased to the normal range within 8 hours, and the coma disappeared after 2 days. We suggest that a combination approach of neostigmime and polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution may be one of the most effective treatments for acute hepatic encephalopathy associated with liver cirrhosis and ascites.