A study of P300 and Cognitive Dysfunction in patients with and without hepatic encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy that complicates chronic liver diseases becomes manifesting clinically in its early stages in the form of multiple neuropsychiatric manifestations e.g. personality changes, discrete psychomotor dysfunction and alteration in sleep rhythm. Cognitive deficit of early stages of hepatic encephalopathy had sensitively been diagnosed by psychometric tests. Auditory Event-Related Potentials (AERP) has been used as an objective neurological testing for the assessment of cognitive function.This study was designed to test the validity of the P300 AERP in early detection of SHE and compare it with psychometric assessment .Seventy subjects were selected and assigned into four groups:Group I : ten healthy age matched controls.Group II : ten patients with liver cirrhosis with evidence of OHE stage I and II .Group III :twenty patients with liver cirrhosis with no clinical evidence of OHE but with positive psychometric evaluation.Group IV :thirty patients with liver cirrhosis with no clinical evidence of OHE and negative psychometric evaluation.Liver cirrhosis caused by viral hepatitis B or C and its diagnosis was made on the basis of suggestive clinical features, deranged liver function tests, and ultrasonogrphy .We excluded from this study patients who had history of alcohol intake, drug abuse, and taking drugs known to act on CNS. And those who had evidence of presence of primary neurologic and