A STUDY OF HYPONATREMIA IN PATIENTS OF LIVER CIRRHOSIS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF SOUTH GUJARAT

Abstract

Introduction: Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte abnormality in patients with liver cirrhosis and associates with the poor prognosis and the complications like hepatorenal syndrome, ascites etc. To evaluate the association between hyponatremia and its complications in liver cirrhosis and its prognostic significance.

Methods: A retrospective study was done on 50 patients who were selected based on history, examination, laboratory investigations and imaging suggestive of the diagnosis of cirrhosis of liver . The presence of various complications and the outcome of the patients were monitored. The severity of the disease was calculated using MELD score and Child Pugh Score. In this study, which was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of South Gujarat, we enrolled 50 subjects who were known cases cirrhosis of liver .

Result: Dilutional hyponatremia is frequent in cirrhotic patients and low serum sodium levels are associated with severe complications of liver cirrhosis like hepatic encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis etc. in the patients with hyponatremia, it ranged from 117-130 meq/l . hyponatremia was present in 26%. Complication of liver cirrhosis like GI Bleeding, Coagulopathy and Hepatorenal Syndrome with hyponatremia were found as 53.8 %, 46.1 % and 30.8 %.

Conclusion: Hyponatremia is associated with high morbidity and mortality in cirrhotic patients. Hence hyponatremia is a valuable marker that can be used to assess the prognosis in patients with cirrhosis of liver.