Understanding Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Liver Cirrhosis: Key Insights for Primary Care

Cardiac dysfunction in liver cirrhosis is a common but frequently overlooked condition. Along with many complications, liver cirrhosisis is well known to affect the heart, but the relationship between the cardiac dysfunction and severity of liver cirrhosis is poorly understood. Some studies reveal a significant relationship, while others do not. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the severity of liver cirrhosis and left ventricular dysfunction. This cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital of Central India. Following informed consent, 135 patients with liver cirrhosis who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The Child-Pugh Score and MELD-Na (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease with Sodium) Score for each participant were computed. All patients underwent 2D echocardiography and the results were analysed. In this study, 75 patients (55.6%) had some degree of diastolic dysfunction, whereas 60 patients (44.4%) did not. Forty of the 75 had grade I diastolic dysfunction, 22 had grade II and 13 had grade III diastolic dysfunction. Patients with MELD-Na scores greater than 19 had a higher prevalence of diastolic dysfunction (75.5%) compared to those with MELD-Na scores of 19 or less (45.5%). Similarly, diastolic dysfunction was higher in patients with Child-Pugh Class C (70.3%) than in those with Child-Pugh Class A or B (42.2%). Diastolic dysfunction was found in 56.1% of alcoholic cirrhosis patients and 55.1% of non-alcoholic cirrhosis patients. In this study, we found that as liver cirrhosis advances, an increasing percentage of individuals develop diastolic dysfunction. However, the severity of diastolic dysfunction is unrelated to the cause of liver cirrhosis.