The correlation between intestinal mucosal lesions and hepatic dysfunction in patients without chronic liver disease

Patients with cirrhosis are known to develop small bowel mucosal lesions. However, the occurrence of mucosal lesions in patients with abnormal liver function test results in the absence of chronic liver disease has not been fully evaluated. This study aims to examine the association between small bowel endoscopic lesions and liver dysfunction in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease. Two hundred ninety six consecutive patients who met the selection criteria underwent capsule endoscopy. The severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions was evaluated quantitatively using the Lewis scoring system, and hepatic dysfunction was evaluated using an algorithm-based combination scoring system with 8 individual serological markers. Small bowel lesions were observed in 121 patients (40.88%). Hepatic dysfunction was significantly more prevalent in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (33.1%; 40/121 and 5.7%; 10/175, respectively; P < .001). The mean serum ALT and AST levels were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than in those without lesions (P = .007 and P = .004, respectively). The mean scores for AST to Platelet Ratio Index, Forns Index, S-Index, Fibrosis-4 Index and BARD were significantly higher in patients with small bowel lesions than those without lesions. The Lewis score significantly and positively correlated with the Forns Index (P = .008) and the FIB-4 Index (P = .006). There is a close correlation between small intestinal mucosal lesions and hepatic dysfunction. The severity of hepatic dysfunction is directly proportional to the severity of the small intestinal mucosal lesions in patients without confirmed chronic liver disease.