Abstract:
INTRODUCTION: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy is a neuro-cognitive disorder which happens in an epidemic percentage in patients with cirrhosis of liver. The computerized inhibitory control test (ICT) has been proposed as the ‘gold standard’ test for the diagnosis of MHE by American Association for Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of minimal hepatic encephalopathy by inhibitory control test (ICT) in patients with cirrhosis of liver. STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Medical Unit IV, Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad / Jamshoro from 01-12-2012 to 31-05-2013. METHODOLOGY: The consecutive patients 18 years or more of age, of either gender diagnosed as liver cirrhosis regardless of Child-Pugh class were recruited and evaluated for minimal hepatic encephalopathy through inhibitory control test (ICT). The data was collected on proforma and analyzed in SPSS 16. RESULTS: Total 110 patients with liver cirrhosis were evaluated for minimal hepatic encephalopathy. The mean age of patients was 46.82 ±10.72. Majority of the subjects were between 30-50 years of age with male predominance (74.5%) and (47.30%) were in Child-Pugh class C (47.3%). The >05 lures/ person and minimal hepatic encephalopathy was identified in 71(64.5%) patients, of which 60 were male and 11 were female [P<0.005] and majority were in Child Pugh-class B. CONCLUSION: The cirrhotic patients are prone to have minimal hepatic encephalopathy.
