EVALUATION OF VITAMIN K THERAPY IN MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASES

Abstract

In order to assess the role of vitamin K therapy, which is widely used in management of bleeding tendency in patients with chronic liver diseases, this study was designed to compare the clinical and laboratory changes in 4 groups of hepatic patients before and after administration of 3 different forms of vitamin K and placebo. Fifteen patients were given vitamin K1 (commercially known as Konakion) tablets, 20 patients were given vitamin K1 (Konakion) ampoules by I.M. injection and 15 patients were given vitamin K3 (K-viton) tablets. A fourth group including 10 patients were given a placebo as a control group. Beside the clinical assessment, bleeding time, PT, aPTT, platelets count and coagulation factor VII and IX were evaluated before and after the therapeutic trial. Although• there is significant clinical improvement in the bleeding liability of the patients, there was no such improvement in the hematological parameters assessed in this study. Moreover there was unexpected significant decrease in level of factor IX in patients received vitamin K but not in the control group.