Diagnosis of Covert/Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy by Means of Continuous Reaction Time Measurement

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2015-11-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The investigators wish to investigate how the Continuous Reaction Time (CRT) method can be used in the diagnosis and monitoring of covert hepatic encephalopathy (cHE)in patients with cirrhosis of the liver. The hypothesis is that the CRT method (duration 10-2 minutes) can serve as a tool in the diagnosis and monitoring of cHE and is an alternative to using the Portosystemic Encephalopathy Test (PSE)(duration 20-25 minutes).

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Mette Munk Lauridsen
• Collaborators: Hospital of South West Jutland; Odense University Hospital; Region of Southern Denmark
• Treatments: Lactulose; Rifaximin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

For healthy volunteers:

• Age> 18 years

• Written informed consent

• Speak and understand Danish

For patients:

• Age > 18 years

• Liver cirrhosis confirmed by biopsy or appropriate clinic and biochemistry, and imaging.

• Written informed consent

• Speak and understand Danish

Exclusion Criteria (patients and control persons):

• Clinical manifest hepatic encephalopathy

• Consumption of psychoactive substances within 6 days of test

• Organic brain disease (i.e. prior stroke, dementia)

• Hypothyroidism

• Renal failure (creatinine> 150 mg / dL)

• Hyponatremia (Na <125 mmol / L)

• Sepsis or bleeding within one week prior to testing.

• Serious sleep disorders

• Current treatment with lactulose, rifaximin or BCAA