THE HANDS IN ALCOHOLIC LIVER-DISEASE

JN PLEVRIS*, JL HAUER, PC HAYES, IAD BOUCHIER, John Plevris

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Chronic liver disease is frequently associated with a hyperdynamic circulation, with warm hands and capillary pulsations. In our experience, however, a significant number of patients with alcoholic liver disease complain of cold hands. In this study, we have investigated the presence of the subjective feeling of hand temperature in 114 patients with alcoholic liver disease compared with 96 healthy controls, and studied possible correlations of this subjective feeling with the severity of liver disease. Significantly more patients with alcoholic liver disease complained of cold hands than did normals, and these differences were more prominent in the male group. The awareness of cold hands appears to be commoner in an intermediate group of patients, between those with noncirrhotic liver disease without varices and those with cirrhosis with varices. A similar pattern of awareness of hand temperature was found when patients were staged according to the severity of their liver disease. We conclude that a staging can be made; at an early stage of liver disease, patients tend to have warm hands, subsequently develop cold hands, and at a later stage, their hands become warm again.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)467-471
Number of pages5
JournalThe American Journal of Gastroenterology
Volume86
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Apr 1991

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • BLOOD-FLOW
  • CIRRHOSIS

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