Asma Mushtaq, Imran Majeed, Umair Riaz, Muhammad Avais Khan.
Decrease in Porto-systemic Encephalopathy (PSE) Scores in patients with Hepatic encephalopathy on low dose Rifaximin.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(1):343-8.

Background : Cirrhosis of liver is a frequent cause of admissions in hospitals due to its complications particularly hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and gastro-intestinal bleed. Mortality of inpatients with HE remained relatively stable and high in the previous years. The antibiotic Rifaximin is a relatively new drug introduced in the prevention of hepatic encephalopathy. Aim: To determine the mean decrease in PSE score in patient with hepatic encephalopathy in dose of 600mg per day Rifaximin in three divided doses. Methods and Results: There were 300 patients in total. Males were 164/300 (54.7%) while females were 136/300 (45.3%). Mean age of the patients was 50.07 +- 11.59 years. There were 36/300 (12.7%) with Child’s class A, 126/300 (42%) in child’s class B while there were 136/300 (45.3%) with Child’s class C. Mean PSE score (Conn’s score) before the start of treatment was 3.17 +- 0.721 while mean PSE score after completion of treatment was 1.79 + 0.879 with P-Value < 0.001. The improvement inPSE score was found to be statistically significant among males and females, in various age groups and in patients with various classes of Child Pugh score. Conclusion: Rifaximin is an effective treatment option in patients with cirrhosis of liver who have hepatic encephalopathy which results in significant improvement in PSE score (Conns’ score) among patients with hepatic encephalopathy.

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