| Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of hepatic myelopathy (HM). Methods The clinical data of 179 HM patients who were first admitted to a tertiary hospital from June 2008 to December 2016 were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Results The ratio of male to female in 179 HM patients was 14:1 and the age was 26-89 years (median 51 years). Hepatitis B cirrhosis (64.8%), alcoholic cirrhosis (16.2%) and hepatitis C cirrhosis (8.9%) were the top 3 causes of HM. All HM patients presented the symptom of motor disorder, and there were 77 patients (43.0%), 44 patients (24.6%), 38 patients (21.2%) and 20 patients (11.2%) with HM grade 1, HM grade 2, HM grade 3 and HM grade 4, respectively. There was a weak positive correlation between the grades of HM and the Child score of liver function in patients (r=0.147, P=0.049). In all enrolled patients, the blood ammonia level was (118.5±43.8) μmol/L. With increase of HM grade, the proportion of blood ammonia level＞150 μmol/L also increased, and the difference among groups was statistically significant (P＜0.05). About 70.9% patients experienced overt hepatic encephalopathy before the onset of HM, and 38.5% patients were accompanied with uncommon portosystemic collateral circulation (UPCC). At discharge, 127 (71.0%) HM patients had no response and 7 (3.9%) patients died. Conclusions HM mostly occurs in male patients with liver cirrhosis, and the diseases causes are viral and alcoholic liver diseases. HM is associated mostly with ammonia level above normal value, overt hepatic encephalopathy and UPCC. At present, there is no effective treatment for HM and its prognosis is poor. |