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What Causes Ammonia Odor Breath In Patients With Liver Cirrhosis?
Question: what causes amonia smell of breath when a person has chirrios of the liver
Brief Answer:
due to high blood ammonia levels
Detailed Answer:
Hi Mam,
Welcome to HealthcareMagic .
In normal human being protein gets metabolised and produce ammonia. Also some intestinal bacterias produce ammonia. This is usually filtered by liver and maintain blood levels. In cirrhosis patient liver fails to filter and blood ammonia level increases.
This increased level of ammonia cause ammonia odour breath. This indicates patient is slowly going to hepatic encephalopathy(complication of cirrhosis). I would suggest to consult doctor and get blood urea nitrogen levels and liver function test done and further management.
Hope I have answered your query . If any further queries are there I would love to help.
Regards
Dr.Deepika Patil
due to high blood ammonia levels
Detailed Answer:
Hi Mam,
Welcome to HealthcareMagic .
In normal human being protein gets metabolised and produce ammonia. Also some intestinal bacterias produce ammonia. This is usually filtered by liver and maintain blood levels. In cirrhosis patient liver fails to filter and blood ammonia level increases.
This increased level of ammonia cause ammonia odour breath. This indicates patient is slowly going to hepatic encephalopathy(complication of cirrhosis). I would suggest to consult doctor and get blood urea nitrogen levels and liver function test done and further management.
Hope I have answered your query . If any further queries are there I would love to help.
Regards
Dr.Deepika Patil
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
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