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Monitoring Treatment of Wilson Disease

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Management of Wilson Disease

Part of the book series: Clinical Gastroenterology ((CG))

Abstract

Treatment of Wilson disease (WD) with medical therapy and degrees of dietary restriction of copper intake is lifelong, but adjustments of treatments and determining their effectiveness require appropriate monitoring. There are two categories of treatment monitoring, monitoring for effectiveness and monitoring for safety. Monitoring requires assessing for changes in health status, including physical exam, blood and urine testing, and imaging. The frequency of monitoring may change according to the clinical status, type of therapy, and phase of treatment. Special attention is given to symptoms related to liver disease, neurologic findings, the appearance of KF rings, psychiatric findings, and quality of life. In addition, monitoring for adherence to treatment links to monitoring for effectiveness as adherence is critical to achieving best patient outcomes. Copper status should be monitored regularly, as some patients may be overtreated, resulting to overlapping symptomatology due to copper excess.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplant Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Tamir Miloh

  2. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Tamir Miloh

  3. Division of Digestive Diseases and Transplant and Immunology, Departments of Medicine and Surgery, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Michael L. Schilsky

Authors
  1. Tamir Miloh
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  2. Michael L. Schilsky
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Correspondence to Michael L. Schilsky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale New Haven Transplantation Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Michael L. Schilsky

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Miloh, T., Schilsky, M.L. (2018). Monitoring Treatment of Wilson Disease. In: Schilsky, M. (eds) Management of Wilson Disease . Clinical Gastroenterology. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91527-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91527-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91526-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91527-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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