Explain whether the following treatments are effective for patients with pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) deficiency. Provide reasons for your answer. Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) deficiency is a genetic mitochondrial disorder commonly associated with lactic acidosis, progressive neurological and neuromuscular degeneration and, usually, death during childhood. The most common interventions used chronically were thiamine, a ketogenic diet, comprising at least 65% of total calories, and dichloroacetate (DCA), singly or in combination. Such uncontrolled studies involving one or a few subjects provide no new insight into the potential safety and efficacy of these interventions. [DCA increases PDC activity by inhibiting the activity of PDKs in virtually all tissues, thereby maintaining E1α in its phosphorylated, catalytically active, state and by stabilizing the complex and decreasing its rate of turnover].