[Neonatal hyperammonemia due to ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (author's transl)]

The clinical and biochemical findings in a patient with the inherited disease so called hyperammonemia type II are presented. The patient was a male who had the first abnormal symptoms of tremors and continuous crying at 35 hours of age and exhibited a rapid clinical course dying 62 hours after birth. Rejection of food, respiratory problems, hypotonia and tonic-clonic convulsions were other outstanding clinical symptoms observed. Withdrawal of the feedings and initiation of a perfusion did not improve the clinical picture. Biochemical studies in samples of blood, urine and CSF revealed the presence of high concentrations of ammonia, alanine, glutamine and orotic acid. Final diagnosis was achieved when post mortem liver ornithine transcarbamylase activity was found to be lower than 6% with respect to that of adequate controls. Carbamyl phosphate synthetase, another urea cycle enzyme measured, was within normal limits of activity.