Determination of factors precipitating encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis

ABSTRACT

Hepatic encephalopathy is one of the potentially fatal complications seen in patients with advanced hepatic cirrhosis heralding a poor prognosis. Various clinical conditions have been implicated to precipitate encephalopathy with decompensated cirrhosis. To determine the frequency of various factors precipitating hepatic encephalopathy in our setup. It is a single centre, descriptive study. In Combined Military Okara from January to December 2005. Forty three patients admitted in the calendar year 2005 with the diagnosis of chronic liver disease / cirrhosis that were found to be in different grades of encephalopathy were included in the study. A careful clinical and laboratory assessment of all the cases was made and the search for the presence of various already identified precipitating factors was carried out. Fifty six percent of the patients included in the study were males and 41.9% were females. Mean age of patients was 56.46 years. Evidence of HCV infection was found in 83% and that of HBV in 17%. Upper gastrointestinal bleed was present in 37.2%, constipation in 20.9% and hypokalemia in 14% of the total patients. No cause was identifiable in 9.3% of the patients. Upper gastrointestinal bleed is the most common factor followed by constipation and electrolyte imbalance