Smartphone-based Stroop Test, EncephalApp: What is the optimal cutoff for diagnosing minimal hepatic encephalopathy?

Jiang et al explored the diagnostic capabilities of EncephalApp, a smartphone-based Stroop Test, in patients with nonalcoholic liver disease. The study included 160 patients with nonalcoholic cirrhosis and utilized the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score as a benchmark for diagnosing minimal encephalopathy. The identified optimal cutoff times were > 101.93 seconds for the “off” time and > 205.86 seconds for the combined “on + off” time, demonstrating sensitivities of 0.84 and 0.90, and specificities of 0.77 and 0.71, respectively. The findings suggest the necessity of employing different cutoffs for patients with alcoholic vs nonalcoholic liver cirrhosis, reflecting the distinct pathophysiologies underlying each condition. Additionally, alcohol consumption itself may influence Stroop test outcomes. Therefore, it is reasonable to establish separate benchmarks for alcoholic and nonalcoholic cirrhotic patients. Further validation in larger patient cohorts with clinical outcomes is essential. The demand for noninvasive liver disease assessments remains high in clinical practice.