A combination therapy of vitamin K₁ and bile acid on hemorrhagic diathesis in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis

Summary

This paper presents a study of treatment involving vitamin K₁ (VK₁) accompanied by bile acids for hemorrhagic diathesis that was applied 42 times in 35 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. The hepaplastin test (HPT) value showed no change during the administration of VK₁ alone. The HPT value elevated significantly, however, after the administration of VK₁ with bile acid, expecially when using ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). The HPT value in patients treated with VK₁ in addition to UDCA before treatment with 53.2% ± 10.2% (mean ± SD) and after that for 2.1 ± 1.1 months (mean ± SD) with 74.7 ± 16.8% showed a significant difference (p< 0.001). On the other hand, no significant difference was noted between the HPT value of 57.2 ± 13.6% before and that of 62.9 ± 13.9% after the treatment in patients treated using VK₁ in conjunction with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA).

These results indicate that the therapy incorporating VK₁ and bile acid, especially UDCA, is useful for reducing the hemorrhagic tendency in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis who show no improvement using VK₁ alone.