Sub-clinical hepatic encephalopathy is an independent risk factor for survival in patients with cirrhosis

Manifest or clinical hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is an end-stage complication of cirrhotic patients associated with poor survival. If patients with sub-clinical HE carry the same poor prognosis is unclear. The aim of the study was to investigate the survival of cirrhotic patients with sub-clinical HE in comparison to cirrhotic patients without HE. Methods: In 338 patients with cirrhosis sub-clinical HE was detected by measurement of visual event-related P300 potentials. A latency of ≥320ms was considered as sub-clinical HE. In addition, patients underwent a diagnostic work-up including measurement of Child-Pugh…