Wiki hepatic encephalopathy with alcoholic cirrhosis with ascites

[aheeralal]

I'm a physician coder and I'm having difficulties deciding whether to codes these conditions together. From what I understand, hepatic encephalopathy is a condition caused by failure of the liver, so the Dx of hepatic encephalopathy requires the presence of impaired liver function (alcoholic cirrhosis in this case). But is the encephalopathy a symptom of the cirrhosis? Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!