CORRELATION OF SERUM PROLACTIN LEVEL IN CIRRHOSIS OF LIVER PATIENTS WITH RESPECT TO VARIOUS CLINICAL PRESENTATION

Background: With the increasing incidence of liver cirrhosis the use of a biomarker such as prolactin indicates the severity of the disease, its complications and serves as a tool for early intervention. To corelate serum Prolactin level Aim: in Cirrhosis of Liver patients with special reference to various clinical presentations. A observational cross-sectional Materials and Methods: study on 70 patients admitted under Department of Medicine, JMCH from July 2020 to June 2021. All the patients are subjected to the routine work up for chronic liver disease including serum prolactin level. A total of 70 Pa Results: tients analyzed in the study. The mean age is found to be 47 years with SD ±13 years, the male and female ratio is 4:1 with mean prolactin levels among the males, it is 36.9 ng/dl with SD ±15.3 ng/dl and in females it is 42.8 ng/dl with SD ±14.2 ng/dl . Of the 70 patients in this study, 59 (84.3%) of them had serum prolactin levels elevated above 19 ng/ml with various clinical proles. The various clinical presentations noted in our study included ascites in 69 (98.5%) patients, portal hypertension in 63( 90 %) of the patients, esophageal varices in 44 (62.85%) with upper GI bleed in 31 (44.3%) patients, hepatic encephalopathy (grades 1-4) in 50 (71.42%) patients. Serum prolactin level can be used as an important Conclusion: tool in predicting the severity of the disease. Patients with a higher serum prolactin have a greater incidence of complications of cirrhosis like PHTN, HE and Esophageal varices.