Visual electrophysiological examination in diagnosis of hepatic encephalopathy

Abstract

Clinical observation of the neuropsychiatric condition, psychometric tests, and EEG recordings has been used to diagnose hepatic encephalopathy. However, no standardization for the diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) has been achieved. According to the study in normal subjects, visual electrophysiology testing is a method of simple, objective record for the medical examination, which includes visual evoked potentials (VEP), electroretinograms (ERG), etc. 23 hepatic encephalopathy patients prospectively underwent visual electrophysiology testing and laboratory serum analysis, and it was found that 22 visual electrophysiology abnormalities which showed that the amplitudes were decreased and the implicit times were prolonged compared with the normal. The relationship between biochemical parameters and visual electrophysiology parameters showed that visual recording was related to the damage of the liver. On the basis of this preliminary study, we could conclude that this method can be as a way to predict for hepatic encephalopathy and it appears to be a method in the recognition of the MHE.