Prognosis and 1-year mortality of intensive care unit patients with severe hepatic encephalopathy

Data regarding outcome of patients with chronic liver disease with severe hepatic encephalopathy in intensive care unit are currently scarce.

This study is a retrospective observational case series in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital from 1995 to 2005. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE) (admitted with or developing) were identified. Clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed to determinate predictors of ICU and 1-year mortality.

Seventy-one patients were included (53 male). Median Simplified Acute Physiology Score was 56 with Child-Pugh score 11 +/- 2. Seventy-six percent of patients were admitted with coma (Glasgow Coma Scale, 7.7 +/- 4). Eighty-two percent of patients required intubation, and 28% vasopressors. Thirty-five percent died during ICU stay. At 1 year, mortality was 54%. Univariate analysis identified arterial hypotension, mechanical ventilation, vasopressors at any time, acute renal failure, Simplified Acute Physiology Score, and sepsis associated with ICU mortality. In multivariate analysis, vasopressor use or acute renal failure was the main independent predictor of ICU death and 1-year mortality. Patients free of these risk factors, even requiring intubation, were identified as isolated HE, with lower mortality rates.

Predictors of outcome were similar to other groups of patients with liver disease admitted for other reasons. Intensive care unit mortality was lower than reported for other groups of patients with similar illness. Patients with severe HE admitted to ICU with no organ dysfunction other than mechanical ventilation had a better outcome and may require ICU admission.