Abstract
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.
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