Abstract
A clinico-biochemical study was undertaken to determine whether Ca-hopantenate plays a role in the development of acute encephalopathy. The patients were divided into eight group: those treated with Ca-hopantenate only (group 1); Ca-hopantenate and other drugs (group 2); Ca-hopantenate, phenobarbital and other antiepileptic drugs (group 3); Ca-hopantenate and VPA (group 4); VPA only (group 5); VPA and other antiepileptic drugs (group 6), common drugs (group 7) and without medication (group 8). The ammonia values of the blood were slightly higher in groups 4 and 6 than those in other groups, but the differences between these mean values in eight groups were not statistically significant. Further investigations were necessary to determine the pathogenesis of increased blood ammonia values in patients treated with Ca-hopantenate and VPA. The possibility of polypharmaceutic effects was not completely excluded in these patients. The values of free carnitine, pantothenic acid and CoA were not reduced in the blood of the patients under the treatment with Ca-hopantenate.
It was not possible to obtain the results indicating that Ca-hopantenate was a possible cause of acute encephalopathy.
