title: Acute hyperammonemic encephalopathy after 5-fluorouracil based chemotherapy.
abstract: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) based chemotherapy has been commonly used to treat metastatic or advanced colon cancer as an adjuvant chemotherapy. Although the side effects of 5-FU such as gastrointestinal problems and neutropenia and thrombocytopenia are common, not many cases of 5-FU related encephalopathy are reported. Hyperammonemic encephalopathy is a rare central nervous system toxicity following 5-FU chemotherapy manifesting as altered mental status with elevated ammonia levels with no radiologic abnormality. We report one case of 5-FU induced hyperammonemic encephalopathy occurring after Folfox4 (oxaliplatin, folinic acid and 5-fluorouracil) chemotherapy in a colon cancer patient who presented with confused mental status soon after the chemotherapy and review the 5-FU related encephalopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung Sook
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Nara
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Soon Sup
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ryung-Ah
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: 5-Fluorouracil; Colorectal neoplasma; Hyperammonemia; Metabolic brain diseases