To Study the Clinical and Etiological Profile of Patients with Hepatic Encephalopathy

Abstract

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a term used to describe a reversible syndrome of impaired brain function involving
a complex spectrum of nonspecific neurological and psychiatric manifestations occurring in patients of severe
acute or chronic liver insufficiency. Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is one of the most devastating complication of
cirrhosis having high morbidity and mortality. There is very limited data regarding the incidence and risk factors
of hepatic encephalopathy so this study is to find the clinical and etiological profile of hepatic encephalopathy.
Methodology: The study was conducted in patients visited in OPD/IPD of medicine department, SGRDIMSR,
Amritsar (Punjab) in the time period from 1 April 2021 to 31 July 2022. A total of 150 patients were taken up for
this study. All the diagnosed patients of liver cirrhosis of any etiology (Recently detected or old patients) were
included in the study.
Findings
In this study most of patients were males (81%) in the age group of 31 to 60 yrs (65%). Most common etiology
found to be alcoholic (53%) with presenting symptoms of altered talks(51%).
Conclusion: Education of the society about the precipitating factors can lead to early detection of hepatic
encephalopathy and thus decrease the morbidity and mortality related to it. So there is need for Screening
programs and education.