摘要
AIM To understand the role of nutritional status in cirrhotic patients without clinical porto-systemic encephalopathy (PSE).METHODS Fifty-one non-alcoholic patients with cirrhosis without PSE were studied prospectively and compared with 20 healthy volunteers. The nutritional evaluation included serum prealbumin, albumin, transferrin, body mass index (BMI), mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC), and grip power. The occurrence of subclinical PSE (SPSE) was defined when N20-N65 inter-peak latencies of median nerve-stimulated somatosensory evoked potentials were ＞2.5 standard deviations of control means. Blood chemistries were tested within 12h of somatosensory evoked potentials test and nutritional evaluation.RESULTS Twenty-five, 17 and 9 cirrhotic patients were graded as Child-Pugh class A, B, and C, respectively. Twenty-four (47.1%) patients developed SPSE. Cirrhotic patients with SPSE had lower serum albumin (2.8g/dL±0.5g/dL vs 3.1g/dL±0.7g/dL, P＜0.001) levels than those without SPSE. Prealbumin (10.6mg/dL±5.7mg/dL vs 12.5mg/dL±5.8mg/dL), transferrin (164mg/dL±46mg/dL vs 178mg/dL±58mg/dL), BMI (23.7kg/m2±2.7kg/m2 vs 25.3kg/m2±3.6kg/m2), MAMC (22.2cm±2.6cm vs 22.7cm±3.5cm), and grip power (26.3kg±6.4kg vs 26.9kg±6.8kg) were not different between cirrhotic patients with and without SPSE. N20-N65 inter-peak latencies were correlated with serum albumin levels (P=0.01) but not with prealbumin, transferrin, BMI, MAMC, or grip power. Serum albumin, prealbumin and transferrin levels were different among cirrhotic patients with Child-Pugh classes A, B, and C (P＜0.05). BMI, MAMC, and grip power were not different among Child-Pugh classes A, B and C.CONCLUSION Our data suggest that serum albumin level is a simple test in the evaluation of nutritional status in patients with cirrhosis.
