• Juan Cordoba, Meritxell Ventura-Cots, Macarena Simón-Talero, Àlex Amorós, Marco Pavesi, Hendrik Vilstrup, Paolo Angeli, Marco Domenicali, Pere Ginés, Mauro Bernardi, Vicente Arroyo, and CANONIC Study Investigators of EASL-CLIF Consortium.
• Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Department of Medicine, Liver Unit, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: jcordoba@vhebron.net.
• J. Hepatol. 2014 Feb 1;60(2):275-81.

Background & AimsIn spite of the high incidence of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in cirrhosis, there are few observational studies.MethodsWe performed an analysis to define the characteristics of HE and associated features using the database of the Canonic Study. Clinical, laboratory and survival data of 1348 consecutive cirrhotic patients admitted with an acute decompensation were compared according to the presence (n=406) or absence of HE and of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) (n=301).ResultsHE development was independently associated with previous HE episodes; survival probabilities worsen in relation to the presence and grade of HE. There were marked differences between HE associated (n=174) and not associated (n=286) to ACLF. HE not associated with ACLF occurred in older cirrhotics, inactive drinkers, without severe liver failure or systemic inflammatory reaction and in relation to diuretic use. In contrast, HE associated with ACLF occurred in younger cirrhotics, more frequently alcoholics, with severe liver failure and systemic inflammatory reaction, and in relation to bacterial infections, active alcoholism and/or dilutional hyponatremia. Prognosis was relatively preserved in the first and extremely poor in the second group. Independent risk factors of mortality in patients with HE were age, bilirubin, INR, creatinine, sodium, and HE grade.ConclusionsIn cirrhosis, previous HE identifies a subgroup of patients that is especially vulnerable for developing new episodes of HE. The course of HE appears to be different according to the presence of ACLF.Copyright © 2013 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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