Oral acetyl-L-carnitine therapy reduces fatigue in overt hepatic encephalopathy: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at L-Carnitine.

This study evaluated the effect of exogenous ALC on physical and mental fatigue, fatigue severity, and physical activity in patients with mild and moderate hepatoencephalopathy (HE1 and HE2, respectively).

Why It Was Studied

Fatigue is frequently reported in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and may be related to hyperammonemia.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 121 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

A total of 121 patients with overt HE were recruited to the study and were subdivided into 2 groups according to their initial HE grade [HE1 (n = 61) or HE2 (n = 60)].

All patients underwent clinical and laboratory assessments and automated electroencephalogram analysis.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got L-Carnitine and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received L-Carnitine.

Some patients received a placebo instead of L-Carnitine, giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Acetylcarnitine, Ammonia, Fatigue, Hepatic Encephalopathy, Memory, Mental Fatigue and Physical Endurance.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of L-Carnitine in 121 patients.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2011 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, all human trials.