Nitazoxanide Plus Lactulose Versus Lactulose Alone Treatment of Hepatic Encephalopathy
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2017-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a reversible neuropsychiatric syndrome associated with chronic
and acute liver dysfunction. It is characterized by cognitive and motor deficits of varying
severity.
Treatment options include lactulose administered orally or by nasogastric tube or enema,
non-absorbable antibiotics, and protein-restricted diets.
Nitazoxanide is an oral agent indicated for the treatment of infectious diarrhea caused by
Crytpsporidiumparvum and Giardia lamblia. Basu and colleagues presented a pilot prospective
study at the 2008 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases meeting showing
clinical improvement in HE among cirrhotic patients who received nitazoxanide and lactulose.