Devrajani BR, Shah SZ, Devrajani T, et al. Precipitating factors of hepatic encephalopathy at a tertiary care hospital Jamshoro, Hyderabad (original) (raw)

Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association

To determine the precipitating factors of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in patients with liver cirrhosis at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad/Jamshoro. This hospital based descriptive study was conducted from April 2007 to September 2007. All the patients who were more than 12 years of age and were diagnosed as hepatic encephalopathy were studied. During this period, 87 patients of hepatic encephalopathy were admitted. All patients were carefully examined, relevant investigations were performed and data was collected through pre-designed proforma. Male patients were 65 (75%), above 40 years of age 58 (67%), belonging to interior/periphery of Sindh 54 (62%), in grade IV of hepatic encephalopathy 70 (80%) and Anti-HCV positive were 52 (60%). The most common precipitating factors detected were infection 58 (67%), constipation 43 (49%) and gastrointestinal bleeding 39 (45%). Out of 87 patients, 68 had increased total leucocytes count, 09 patients had hypokalaemia, 24 patients, hyponat...