Body Composition Evaluation of Cirrhotic Patients With Ascites

Malnutrition due to liver disease is common, however, their detection is difficult. The parameters used for nutritional assessment in clinical practice have limited use in this patient population.

From this perspective, this study proposes to develop predictive equations for body composition for electrical bioimpedance (BIA) in cirrhotic patients. Besides being a fast and risk free, the BIA offers the additional advantage of low cost compared to other methods that assess body composition (BC).

Will be selected patients male with liver cirrhosis (n = 112) of the Liver Transplant Clinic of the Hospital of the Clinicas, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo. After signing an informed consent, BC will be estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis and by reference method (DXA). The data obtained by both methods are statistically treated to obtain specific BIA prediction equations for the evaluation of cirrhotic patients.

This pioneering study is of great clinical importance because malnutrition is a relevant factor in the prognosis of liver disease and there is not efficient method in clinical practice to properly assess the body composition in this population. Such knowledge, in turn, can serve as a new tool for nutritional assistance in treating this disease.