Non alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

TYPES OF LIVER DISEASES

NON ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE

As the name suggest, non alcoholic fatty liver disease is accumulation of fat in the liver in the absence of significant amount of alcohol intake.

Normal liver contains some amount of fat, but if fat is > 10% of liver weight, it is diagnosed with fatty liver.

Predisposing factors are

Obesity
Diabetes
Dyslipidemia
Starvation

NAFLD is a disease with wide spectrum, which includes

Fatty liver
Fatty liver is the deposition of fat in liver, without inflammation and is the most benign disease of the spectrum with low risk of progression to severe disease

NASH (fatty liver with inflammation)
NASH is fat deposition with liver inflammation

These patients are at high risk for developing progressive liver diseases

Cirrhosis is the end stage manifestation of NAFLD

Following tests are done for diagnosis of NAFLD

LFT
USG abdomen showing enlarged liver and hyperechoic liver
FBS/serum insulin
Thyroid profile
Lipid profile
Liver biopsy in patients with persistent liver enzyme elevation

Treatment of NAFLD

Gradual weight reduction
Life style modification
Restricted calorie intake
Ursodeoxycholic acid and Vitamin E had shown the benefit in clinical trials