Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Curing ASLD

As of right now, there still aren’t any viable cures for ASL deficiency; only treatment, to improve the quality of life of a patient. The treatment is fairly simple, consisting mostly of watching protein intake, and taking certain supplements to manage the block in the urea cycle and on the rare occasion of a metabolic emergency, haemodialysis. (more information can be found in previous posts) While these are effective, the only way to “be rid” of this condition, seeing as it is genetic, is a liver transplant.

Such treatment is life-long, and the slightest mistake could end in disaster, ranging from neurological damage, to death. As such, researchers continue to search for cures to ASLD. Some researchers have been looking into gene therapy as a possible solution, and even now, continue to study the genetics behind this condition.

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