Contemporary Understanding and Management of Overt and Covert Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a major complication of liver disease that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Caring for hospitalized patients with HE is becoming more complex, and the economic burden of HE continues to rise. Defining and diagnosing HE, particularly covert HE (CHE), remain...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Gastroenterology & Hepatology Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 91 - 101
Autores principales: NeSmith, Meghan, Ahn, Joseph, Flamm, Steven L.
Formato: review tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Gastro-Hep Communications, Inc Feb2016
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a major complication of liver disease that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Caring for hospitalized patients with HE is becoming more complex, and the economic burden of HE continues to rise. Defining and diagnosing HE, particularly covert HE (CHE), remain challenging. In this article, we review new tools and those currently under development for the diagnosis of CHE and the latest advances in the acute and long-term management of overt HE (OHE) and CHE. In particular, we review the latest data on the use of lactulose and rifaximin for treatment of OHE and summarize the data on adjunctive agents such as sodium benzoate and probiotics.