To Study the Prevalence of QTc Interval Prolongation in Cirrhosis of Liver And Its Relationship with the Severity of Disease

ABSTRACT

Background: Cirrhosis of liver is considered as chronicdisease of liver characterised by the triad of parenchymalinflammation, necrosis and regeneration with diffuse increasein fibrosis and formation of nodules around regenerating liverparenchyma. A retrospective study of 90 patients of livercirrhosis visiting OPD/Indoor of SGRDIMSR, Vallah, SriAmritsar were included in the study conducted from Jan 2017to Aug 2018 to assess QTc interval in patients with cirrhosis ofliver due to any etiology and to find the correlation betweenQTc interval and severity of liver cirrhosis as per Child-PughScore.Methods: The severity of liver cirrhosis was assessed andaccording to the Child Pugh Score, divided into Class A, ClassB and Class C of 30 patients each. QT interval was noted in allthe patients. QTc was calculated by Bazett’s formula. Fromabove parameters we try to find out whether there is anycorrelation between QTc and severity of disease.Results: The mean value of calculated QTc interval in ClassA=0.474; Class B=0.490 and Class C=0.583. The QTc intervalincreased linearly with the severity of the disease and the pvalue was less than 0.001 which is highly significant.Conclusion: In our study we concluded that the prolongationof QTc interval is co-related with liver function and itsprevalence increases with the severity of liver dysfunction.Prolongation of the QTc interval was statistically confirmed inChild-Pugh C and B. The prolonged Q-T interval predictssevere arrhythmias and sudden death, and they are the idealcandidates for liver transplantation.