Hepatic injury correlates with neuropsychologic impairment

Five liver injury measures (albumin, prothrombin time, gamma globulin, indocyanine green clearance and serum ammonia) were correlated with neuropsychologic test performance in a group of 79 nonalcoholic cirrhotic patients. Employing linear regression analysis techniques revealed that these five measures, particularly albumin and prothrombin time, could explain a significant amount of the variance on neuropsychological tests. The results indicate that functional liver status, even where there is no overt evidence of hepatic encephalopathy, is related to cognitive capacity.