1. Evaluation of the Role of Electro-Encephalography in the Early Diagnosis of Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy in Patients with Cirrhosis of Liver
- Author
-
Atul Debbarma, Arunabha Dasgupta, and Saroj Kumar Choudhury
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Cirrhosis ,business.industry ,lcsh:R5-130.5 ,meld score ,minimal hepatic encephalopathy ,medicine.disease ,Gastroenterology ,Electro encephalography ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,In patient ,blood ammonia level ,business ,Hepatic encephalopathy ,ctp-class ,cirrhosis of liver ,electroencephalography ,lcsh:General works - Abstract
BACKGROUND Hepatic encephalopathy is a serious complication of cirrhosis of liver carrying high mortality rates. Two important prognostic indicators for cirrhosis are ChildTurcotte-Pugh Class (CTP-Class) & Model for Endstage Liver disease (MELD) score. Cirrhotic subjects in advanced CTP-Class & higher MELD scores have worse prognosis. Hepatic encephalopathy is one of the causes of mortality. We wanted to evaluate the role of electroencephalography in diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic individuals. METHODS This is a case control study where 100 cirrhotic individuals who were normal in standard clinical neurological examination procedure and without any cognitive defect were included along with 100 controls selected from patient’s attendants matching with age, sex and ethnicity. All were investigated with electroencephalography and biochemical parameters for liver function tests, INR & blood ammonia. Statistical analysis was studied to identify significant correlation existing between abnormal EEG tracing suggestive of encephalopathy with CTPClass, MELD Scores and blood ammonia level. A p value of p45). The mean MELD score in individuals with normal EEG is 12.45 and abnormal EEG is 20.36 & p=0.006. Statistically significant association was seen between EEG changes suggestive of encephalopathy and advanced MELD scores. CONCLUSIONS Electroencephalography is a simple diagnostic tool of low cost and easily performed which can be employed in cirrhotic individuals for diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy for adoption of preventive approaches.
- Published
- 2019