Correlation between Hyperammonomia and Gastic Helicobacter pylori In fectionin Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Choi, Won; Kim, Young Soo; shin, Yong Woon; Kwon, Kye Sook; Lee, Don Haeng; Cho, Hyeon Geun; Yi, Jae Su; Kim, Pum Soo; Hong, Eui Soo; Shin, Hyun Joo; Park, Yeun Jae

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We examined the correlation between hyperammonemia and gastric Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in patients with liver cirrhosis.
METHODS
We studied 31 patients with liver cirrhosis and 34 normal controls. However, the cirrhotic group did not include patients who had a bleeding tendency or hepatic encephalopathy. We performed gastroscopy, obtained gastric juice (3-4 mL) and antral biopsy specimens, and examined the ammonia levels of blood and gastric juice in each group.
RESULTS
In the cirrhotic group, there was no difference in blood ammonia levels between the H. pylori- positive (HP+) and negative (HP-) groups. However, the ammonia levels of gastric juice in the HP+ group showed a tendency to be higher than those in the HP- group (p=0.0773). Child-Pugh scores in the HP+ group were significantly lower than those in the HPQ group (p= 0.0309). By multiple regression analysis, factors affecting the ammonia levels of blood were determined. They were age (coefficient 1.2462, p=0.0256) in the control group (r2=0.2821), and ammonia levels of gastric juice (coefficient 0.007417, p=0.0322) in the cirrhotic group (r2=0.3127). On the other hand, Child- Pugh scores (coefficient 12.508122, p=0.0883) indicated a slight correlation with the blood ammonia levels in the cirrhotic group.
CONCLUSIONS
It seems that gastric H. pylori infection is associated with hyperammonia in patients with liver cirrhosis.