A STUDY OF SPECTRUM OF THE PRECIPITATING FACTORS OF HEPATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY IN CIRRHOSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE) is a complex, potentially reversible neuropsychiatric condition that occurs due to acute or chronic liver disease1. In managing patients with HE in cirrhosis of the liver it is very important to stage the encephalopathy into four clinical stages and then try to identify and treat the precipitating factors. In the presence of the precipitating factors, the neurological decits are usually completely reversible on their correction and the prognosis is good if the precipitant can be treated2. Results: A total of 54 patients with cirrhosis of the liver suffering from hepatic encephalopathy were studied for different precipitating factors over a period of 15 months. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) (48.14%) is the most common precipitating factor in our study, followed by gastrointestinal bleeding(31.48%), constipation(27.77%), sepsis(24.04%), hyponatremia(20.37%) and hypokalemia(11.11%). Conclusion: Early detection and diagnosis of the precipitating factors of HE help in the focused treatment of this highly fatal condition thereby reducing the mortality in such patients