Purpose: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is an important complication of chronic liver disease (CLD); however, MHE burden in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) has not been determined yet. Therefore, our study aimed to assess the prevalence of MHE in a typical cohort of middle-aged, patients with PBC suspicion of liver fibrosis and to investigate the relationship between MHE, basic laboratory tests and the stage of liver fibrosis.
Patients and methods: Fifty-one patients (38 with PBC and 13 controls), were prospectively enrolled. Portosystemic Encephalopathy-Syndrome test was used to diagnose MHE. Elastography point qualification (ElastPQ) and non-invasive markers (APRI and FIB-4) were used to assess liver fibrosis. The severity of CLD was assessed using the Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Pugh score.
Results: MHE was diagnosed in 9 patients (24.3%) with PBC and none in the control group. As many as 44.4% of the patients with MHE had neither advanced fibrosis nor cirrhosis, as demonstrated using non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis or ElastPQ. The MELD score was the only predictor of MHE with cut-off value 8.5 [AUC = 0.753, CI95% = 0.569 to 0.938)] with sensitivity of 56%, specificity of 85% and accuracy of the test of 78%. Non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis and ElastPQ did not predict MHE.
Conclusions: MHE may occur in PBC despite no evidence of advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. The slightly elevated MELD score may indicate a substantially increased risk of MHE in patients with PBC.
Keywords: Liver cirrhosis; Liver fibrosis; Minimal hepatic encephalopathy; Primary biliary cholangitis; Psychometric test.
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