Pentose Metabolism in Man

Abstract

Episodes of disordered behavior, coma or convulsions are not infrequent during the course of severe, chronic, congestive heart failure. When observed, they are usually attributed to some process such as anoxemia, a cerebral vascular disturbance, drug intoxication, electrolyte imbalance, or some other alteration directly or indirectly related to the underlying cardiac disorder. The importance of the early recognition of the remediable causes of such occurrences is obvious, and hence the considerable therapeutic significance of the observation that they may occasionally be due to periods of hypoglycemia, readily reversed by the simple act of administering adequate glucose.