[Hepatic encephalopathy]

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common complication of liver cirrhosis and it can manifest with a broad spectrum of neuropsychiatric abnormalities of varying severity, acuity and time course with important clinical implications. According to recent guidelines, HE has been classified into different types, depending on the severity of hepatic dysfunction, the presence of porto-systemic shunts and the number of previous episodes or persistent manifestations. From a clinical point of view, HE can be recognized as unimpaired, covert (that deals with minimal and grade 1 according to the grading of mental state), and overt (that is categorized from grade 2 to grade 4). Different and only partially known pathogenic mechanisms have been identified, comprising ammonia, inflammatory cytokines, benzodiazepine-like compounds and manganese deposition. Different therapeutic strategies are available for treating HE, in particular the overt HE, since covert HE needs to be managed case by case. Recognition and treatment of precipitating factors represent fundamental part of the management. The more effective treatments, which can be performed separately or combined, are represented by non-absorbable disaccharides (lactulose and lactitol) and the topic antibiotic rifaximin; other possible therapies, mainly used in patients non responders to previous treatments, are represented by branched chain amino acids and metabolic ammonia scavengers.