Child-Pugh Score (Liver)

The Child-Pugh score provides a quick, bedside assessment of a cirrhotic patient's overall functional status. It was the primary tool for liver transplant allocation for decades before being largely superseded by the MELD score.

Child-Pugh remains vital for adjusting drug dosages in hepatic impairment, predicting perioperative mortality in non-transplant surgery, and communicating the severity of liver disease between clinicians.

Unlike MELD, which is purely lab-based, Child-Pugh incorporates clinical markers like ascites and encephalopathy, providing a more "holistic" view of the patient's decompensation.