TITLE:
Visual electrophysiological examination in diagnosis of hepatic encephalopathy
AUTHORS:
Lei Zhang, Li Li, Xinmin Zhou, Feng Xia, Zuoming Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Hepatic Encephalopathy; VEP; ERG; Visual Electrophysiological Examination; Diagnosis
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.3 No.4,
September
6,
2013
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.