Five - year Follow - up of Clinical and Laboratory Data of Early Liver Cirrhosis Patients Confirmed by Liver Biopsy

Korean J Hepatol > Volume 8(3); 2002 > Article

The Korean Journal of Hepatology 2002;8(3): 256-263.

원저 : 간조직 생검으로 확진된 초기 간경변 환자들의 임상 및 검사실 성적들에 대한 5 년 후 추적 비교 ( Original Articles : Five - year Follow - up of Clinical and Laboratory Data of Early Liver Cirrhosis Patients Confirmed by Liver Biopsy )

Five - year Follow - up of Clinical and Laboratory Data of Early Liver Cirrhosis Patients Confirmed by Liver Biopsy

Dong Uk Kim,Geun Tae Park,Dong Hee Koh,Hyun Seok Cho,Young Hoon Kim,Sung Gon Shim,Jin Bae Kim,Sung Hee Lee,Ho Soon Choi,Joon Soo Hahm,Min Ho Lee

Research Institute of Digestive Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

ABSTRACT

Background/Aims
It is important to evaluate the general status of the liver including the structural and inflammatory aspects, as well as the functional aspects, in order to determine a patient`s treatment modality and prognosis. Methods: 55 Child-Pugh class A liver cirrhosis patients confirmed by liver biopsy have been categorized into 4 groups based on the shunt index and p-value(Y= 3.3431-0.8160×ALT/AST ratio-0.0343× prothrombin time+2.6963×shunt index, p = e^y/(e^y+1)), which was obtained by Thallium- 201 scan ; group I - shunt index less than 0.3 and p-value less than 0.7; group II - shunt index less than 0.3 and p-value more than 0.7; group III - shunt index more than 0.3 and p-value less than 0.7; and group IV - shunt index more than 0.3 and p-value more than 0.7. Statistical analyses used were ANOVA, paired t-test, and Chi-square test. Results: 1. The laboratory data after a 5-year follow-up also showed a significant difference between four groups. 2. In group IV, the Child-Pugh class after 5 years worsened, and complications of liver cirrhosis such as esophageal varix, ascites, and hepatic encephalopathy occurred more frequently. 3. In group II, the laboratory data after a 5-year follow-up indicated some improvement. Conclusion: It can be seen that even early in patients with initially the same cirrhosis, the course of the illness can progress to a variety of different situations. The measurement of shunt index and the p-value of cirrhosis will be more helpful in the follow-up evaluation and predicting its prognostic index in liver cirrhosis patients. (Korean J Hepatol 2002;8:256-263)

KeyWords: Liver cirrhosis, Shunt index, p-value.