Carl Vinson, a 65-year-old Caucasian man, was admitted today with increased shortness of breath, fatigue, and decreased level of
consciousness. Mr. Vinson has a history of liver disease, most likely related to a long history of alcohol use. Upon arrival to the unit, he is somnolent and responds only to shouting and shaking. Upon arousal, he is only able to state his first name. His wife accompanies him to the unit, and describes that he has become increasingly restless over the last 3 days, and she is concerned for his safety. Additionally, he has not eaten or taken in any fluids in 24 hours. Correlate the patient's presenting clinical manifestations to hepatic encephalopathy.
in correlation with the patients presenting clinical manifestations, the patients is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver which has caused the decline in his brain function called hepatic encephalopathy.
Explanation:
hepatic encephalopathy is a partial or complete loss or decline in brain function due to an underlying liver disease. In this case, because the patient has a long history of alcohol, the liver disease he is suffering from could be cirrhosis of the liver. As a result he presented this symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatique and decrease level of consciousness which are indicative of hepatic encephalopathy arising from a cirrhotic liver.
