Livio Capocaccia (EDT) Hepatic Encephalopathy in Chronic Liver Failure

Annotation

The meeting which took place in Rome on November 19th and 20th of 1982 is easily the best meeting on hepatic coma that I have ever attended, and I have attended many. It was an exceedingly we- planned meeting with prolonged opportunity for discussion, and there was genuine interplay and exchange of ideas (not the usual picture of a rushed meeting with investigators presenting their own point of view and talking past each other without a meaningful ex- change) which took place in Rome. My co-editors and I hope that the published transcript, which of course can only reflect what transpired in Rome on those two days, does justice to a very intellectually exciting and gratifying ex- change of ideas. L. Capocaccia, J. E. Fischer and F. Rossi-Fanelli v CONTENTS Introduction 1 SECTION 1: PATHOGENETIC PROBLEMS IN HEPATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY Ammonia: The old and the new * * . * * * . * . * * * . * . * 5 L. Zieve Role of synergism in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy * * * * . * * . . . . * 15 L. Zieve y-Aminobutyric acid receptors in experimental hepatic encephalopathy *. *. * * 25 M. L. Zeneroli, ~. Baraldi,and E. Ventura A possible role for excitatory neurotoxic amino acids in the pathogenesis of hepatic en- 41 cephalopathy * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * F. Moroni, G. Lombardi, G. Moneti, D. Pellegrini and C.