Echocardiographic Correlates of Abnormal Liver Function Tests in Patient with Acute Heart Failure

Background: Liver cytolysis caused by cardiac dysfunction is well recognized. The physiological changes that occur with both right heart failure and left heart failure have been studied with great interest. Studies of this hepatic dysfunction with echocardiography parameters and relationship with each variable were scanty. Therefore this study was done to prospectively correlate several selected parameters with echocardiography parameters in patients hospitalized with AHF and liver dysfunction Method: Prospectively 30 patients admitted with AHF having liver dysfunction were studied. Echocardiography parameters of right heart and left heart function were analyzed statistically for correlation with liver dysfunction such as raised serum TB, and transaminase. Result: Elevated TB was found in 12 patients (30 %) and transaminase in 24 patients (80 %) among 30 cases collected. The most prevalent HF etiologies were ischemic (n=16, 53.3 %) causes. LVEF which resembles the left function of heart showed a positive correlation of transaminases (AST/ALT P=0.013/0.010) elevation. RVD which resembles the right heart function in this study when compared with the variables had a significant correlation (r-.647: p=.000) with TB elevation. Conclusion: In this study we observed that total serum bilirubin and transaminases were often elevated in patient with AHF. Echocardiography indices of right heart failure significantly correlated with choleststic LFT abnormalities and echocardiography indices of left heart failure significantly correlated with transaminases.