A Study of Haematological Abnormalities in Patients of Alcohol Liver Disease and its Clinical Significance

Background: The liver is the body’s largest organ, accounting for 1.5-2.5% of lean body mass and weighing 1-1.5 kg. Liver diseases are fast emerging as global health priorities. Alcohol is a commonly used medicine with hematopoiesis suppression as one of its adverse effects. Alcohol consumption is known for morbidity and mortality, being a serious health hazard of the world. Methods: The study was conducted in the patients admitted in Department of General Medicine, Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar, Rajasthan, after taking informed consent eligible patients were enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Result: According to hematological indices (RBC and MCV), 20% of cases have normal RBC, while 80% have low RBC (with 3.41±0.95).MCV revealed that 17% of cases had a low MCV of 95.10±13.42, whereas 40% of cases had a high MCV. The mean HB was 12±32.39(4.1±13.3), with a median of 9.2 gm% and 23% of cases had leukopenia, 13% had leukocytosis, and 64% had a normal total leucocyte count. 47.72% of cases have thrombocytopenia, and 28% of cases have a normal platelet count of 1.14± 0.73 while in 17% of patients, pancytopenia was noted. According to P.B.F. Smear, 54% of cases are macrocytic anemia, 28% are normochromic normocytic, 13% are microcytic hypochromic and 5% are dimorphic anemia.PT and BT results showed that 89% of cases had high PT, 11% had normal PT, 29% had high BT, and 5% had low BT. Conclusion: Cirrhosis of the liver is caused by long-term, excessive alcohol intake and affects a number of physiological, biochemical, and metabolic processes, including the maturation and generation of blood cells. These negative effects can have substantial medical consequences, such as anaemia, a higher chance of developing life-threatening bacterial infections, leucopenia, leukocytosis, thrombocytopenia, pancytopenia, prolonged PT and BT.