Researchers from Mexico compared the effects of L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA) and lactulose in reducing duration of hospitalisation and improving hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in a retrospective study. Eighty patients hospitalized with HE in a tertiary referral hospital in Mexico City were recruited for the study and were randomized to treatment with either LOLA or lactulose. The two groups were compared in terms of length of hospital stay and time of improvement of HE. The costs of care were also compared between the two patient groups.

Lactulose-treated patients were hospitalized for 443 days, whereas the length of hospital stay in LOLA-treated patients was 264 days indicating a 40% decrease in duration of hospitalization. The mean hospital stay in lactulose group was 11.07 days; in LOLA group, the mean hospital stay was 6.47 days. Duration of hospital stay was less than a week for 65% of patients treated with LOLA compared to 20% of those treated with lactulose. Also, LOLA treated patients recovered faster; 4.32 vs. 10.15 days, respectively. This study therefore showed that LOLA was not only effective in improving HE, it also decreased the length of hospital stay.