Abstract

SOUSA-MUNOZ, Rilva; MAROJA, José Luiz; VASCONCELOS, Fernando Roberto  and  MELO, Joyce. Brief cognitive evaluation for detection of encephalopathy in patients with chronic liver disease. J Port Gastrenterol. [online]. 2013, vol.20, n.6, pp.255-260. ISSN 0872-8178.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpg.2013.09.002.

Background: Patients with chronic liver failure often occur with hepatic encephalopathy (HE), but specific cognitive aspects of this has been little studied. Objectives: To assess cognitive ability and prevalence of EH in hospitalized patients with chronic liver disease at the University Hospital Lauro Wanderley (HULW), and correlate with cognitive assessment clinical signs of liver failure and functional reserve. Methods: The instruments used were the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and clinical evaluation for EH, correlating them with rated Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CCTP) and clinical signs of liver failure. Results: Patient age ranged from 21 to 85 years, with a mean of 52.9 (±15), 57.6% Child C. It was found that 43.1% had clinically evident EH and 53.3%, cognitive deficit. There was no association of these indices with jaundice, ascites, palmar erythema and asterixis (p = NS), but there was an association between MMSE scores (p = 0,017) and EH and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (p = 0.046). Conclusions: The prevalence of clinically evident EH was 43.1%, while 53.3% had cognitive, giving a prevalence of «minimum EH» to 10.2%. The two evaluations (EH and cognitive assessment) associated with the CCTP. It is important to conduct further studies on neuropsychological tests suitable for detecting subtle cognitive changes in liver disease.

Keywords : Liver failure; Cognition; Mini-mental state examination; Hepatic encephalopathy; Symptom assessment.

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