Overt hepatic encephalopathy : Pharmacotherapy review

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) has a large impact on the patient, caregivers, and health care team. From 2005 to 2009, there were 110,000 hospitalized patients in the United States. Overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) may occur in up to 50[percent] of all cirrhotic patients. In 2013, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in conjunction with the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) released a treatment guideline for the management of hepatic encephalopathy. In addition to developing the definition and classification, treatment approaches were developed with a caveat that the evidence supporting treatment was not the most robust. This review is of the recommendations from the guidelines, as well as a review of specific literature