Researching the Overlap: Hepatic Encephalopathy and Dementia in Focus

Host: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP Guest: Jasmohan Bajaj, MD Around 50 percent of people with cirrhosis have hepatic encephalopathy, which means some kind of brain dysfunction. As these patients age, it gets more and more difficult to differentiate between hepatic encephalopathy and dementia, which is why two recent studies sought to uncover how many patients with dementia have undiagnosed cirrhosis. According to the findings, the rate of undiagnosed cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy could be as high as 10‒13 percent. Joining Dr. Charles Turck to share further details about the studies, findings, and implications is Dr. Jasmohan Bajaj, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University.