Neuropsychiatric changes associated with variceal sclerotherapy

ABSTRACT

Twenty patients with bleeding eosophageal varices undergoing variceal sclerotherapy were studied. Clinical, laboratory, psychological and E.E.G assessment were performed before and after sclerotherapy. Symptoms and signs of hepatic encephalopathy were found in half of the cases. Psychological tests detected mild confusion, diminished attention, impaired memory and psychomotor retardation in 100% of the patients in contradistinction to clinical assessment which detected only 50% of the cases. E.E.G. findings revealed mild to moderate changes in 60% of the patients while the typical triphasic waves were found in only 25% of the cases. There was no statistically significant difference in the results of psychometric tests and E.E.G after variceal sclerotherapy when compared to values before sclerotherapy