Blood Ammonia Level Correlates with Severity of Cirrhotic Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy
Table 1
Patient baseline characteristics.
Parameter
PHG ()
EV ()
Controls ()
value
Age, years (mean, SD)
53.57 ± 6.61
55 ± 8.72
52.33 ± 11.06
0.923
Sex: male, n (%)
142 (69.95)
31 (75.61)
85 (62.04)
0.456
Etiology of cirrhosis, n (%)
Hepatitis C virus
199 (98.03)
41 (100)
137 (100)
0.471
Hepatitis B virus
4 (1.97)
0 (0)
0(0)
Ascites, n (%)
90 (44.33)
17 (41.46)
39 (28.47)
0.063
History of hepatic encephalopathy, n (%)
28 (13.79)
4 (9.76)
6 (4.38)
0.089
Hemoglobin (g/dL)
11.15 ± 1.81
10.99 ± 1.52
11.31 ± 2.53
0.726
WBCs (×109/L)
5.23 ± 2.22
5.15 ± 2.09
5.93 ± 2.60
0.180
Platelets (×109/L)
101.70 ± 31.34a
100 ± 30.61c
125.54 ± 36.25
<0.001
ALT (U/L)
43.34 ± 17.49
35.54 ± 15.69
39.28 ± 23.34
0.129
AST (U/L)
62.20 ± 26.62
53.34 ± 30.71
56.64 ± 29.67
0.308
Serum albumin (g/dL)
3.03 ± 0.56
3.05 ± 0.42
3.24 ± 0.61
0.086
Total serum bilirubin (mg/dL)
1.83 ± 1.24a,b
1.29 ± 0.55
1.31 ± 0.92
0.007
International normalized ratio
1.29 ± 0.24
1.22 ± 0.19
1.24 ± 0.30
0.449
Creatinine (mg/dL)
0.97 ± 0.21
0.94 ± 0.27
0.96 ± 0.24
0.781
Blood ammonia (μg/dL)
162.12 ± 58.17a,b
153.04 ± 59.41c
103.23 ± 72.76
<0.001
Child-Pugh class, n (%)
Class A
97 (47.79)
22 (53.66)
77 (56.20)
0.067
Class B
66 (32.51)
17 (41.46)
44 (32.12)
Class C
40 (19.70)
2 (4.88)
16 (11.68)
Portal vein diameter (mm)
13.64 ± 1.81a
13.42 ± 1.49c
11.75 ± 2.11
<0.001
Splenic longitudinal diameter (cm)
15.84 ± 1.69a
15.75 ± 1.74c
14.28 ± 2.65
<0.001
Splenic vein diameter (mm)
11.19 ± 1.20a
11.10 ± 0.92c
8.55 ± 1.91
<0.001
Esophageal varices, n (%)
203 (100)
41 (100)
—
—
Statistically significant at ; when compared with controls; when compared with esophageal varices; when compared with controls. ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase: WBCs, white blood cells; EV: esophageal varices; PHG: portal hypertensive gastropathy.
