Hepatic encephalopathy can be mistaken for dementia in many cases: Study
USA: Individuals with compromised brain function could be mistakenly diagnosed with dementia instead of hepatic encephalopathy which is commonly associated with liver Cirrhosis, recent research reveals.
A study published in The American Journal of Medicine reports that the fibrosis (FIB-4) index could be utilized as a potential biomarker to investigate undiagnosed cirrhosis in patients with dementia and that hepatic encephalopathy which is associated with cirrhosis is misdiagnosed as dementia.
Dementia is an untreatable condition that affects the memory and thinking ability of an individual and these symptoms coincide with the symptoms associated with hepatic encephalopathy which is a potentially reversible condition. Around 5-10 % of patients with undiagnosed cirrhosis are mistakenly diagnosed with dementia and may have hepatic encephalopathy
Scott Silvey, Department of Population Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study between 2009 and 2019 using the FIB - 4 index as a biomarker for screening cirrhosis in non-veteran patients with dementia.
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