Fatty liver

China Product


Causes

Fatty liver is commonly associated with alcohol or metabolic syndrome (diabetes, hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia) but can also be due to any one of many causes:

Metabolic sonic super ear

Abetalipoproteinemia, glycogen storage diseases, Weber-Christian disease, Wolman disease, acute fatty liver of pregnancy, lipodystrophy ite hearing aid

Nutritional medical disposables

Malnutrition, total parenteral nutrition, severe weight loss, refeeding syndrome, jejuno-ileal bypass, gastric bypass, jejunal diverticulosis with bacterial overgrowth

Drugs and toxins

Amiodarone, methotrexate, diltiazem, highly active antiretroviral therapy, glucocorticoids, tamoxifen, environmental hepatotoxins (e.g., phosphorus, mushroom poisoning)

Other

Inflammatory bowel disease, HIV, Hepatitis C especially genotype 3, and Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency

Pathology

Micrograph of periportal hepatic steatosis, as may be seen due to steroid use. Trichrome stain.

Fatty change represents the intra-cytoplasmic accumulation of triglyceride (neutral fats). At the beginning, the hepatocytes present small fat vacuoles (liposomes) around the nucleus - microvesicular fatty change. In this stage liver cells are filled with multiple fat droplets that do not displace the centrally located nucleus. In the late stages, the size of the vacuoles increases pushing the nucleus to the periphery of the cell giving characteristic signet ring appearance - macrovesicular fatty change. These vesicles are well delineated and optically "empty" because fats dissolve during tissue processing. Large vacuoles may coalesce, producing fatty cysts - which are irreversible lesions. Macrovesicular steatosis is the most common form and is typically associated with alcohol, diabetes, obesity and corticosteroids. Acute fatty liver of pregnancy and Reye's syndrome are examples of severe liver disease caused by microvesicular fatty change. The diagnosis of steatosis is made when fat in the liver exceeds 510% by weight.

Mechanism leading to hepatic steatosis

Defects in fat metabolism are responsible for pathogenesis of FLD which may be due to imbalance in energy consumption and its combustion resulting in lipid storage or can be a consequence of peripheral resistance to insulin, whereby the transport of fatty acids from adipose tissue to the liver is increased. Impairment or inhibition of receptor molecules (PPAR-, PPAR- and SREBP1) that control the enzymes responsible for the oxidation and synthesis of fatty acids appears to contribute towards fat accumulation. In addition, alcoholism is known to damage mitochondria and other cellular structure further impairing cellular energy mechanism. On the other hand non alcoholic FLD may begin as excess of unmetabolised energy in liver cells. Hepatic steatosis is considered reversible and to some extent nonprogressive if there is cessation or removal of underlying cause.

Micrograph of inflamed fatty liver (steatohepatitis).

Severe fatty liver is sometimes accompanied by inflammation, a situation that is referred to as steatohepatitis. Progression to alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) depend on persistence or severity of inciting cause. Pathological lesions in both conditions are similar. However, the extent of inflammatory response varies widely and does not always correlate with degree of fat accumulation. Steatosis (retention of lipid) and onset of steatohepatitis may represent successive stages in FLD progression.

Liver with extensive inflammation and high degree of steatosis often progresses to more severe forms of the disease. Hepatocyte ballooning and hepatocyte necrosis of varying degree are often present at this stage. Liver cell death and inflammatory responses lead to the activation of stellate cells which play a pivotal role in hepatic fibrosis. The extent of fibrosis varies widely. Perisinusoidal fibrosis is most common, especially in adults, and predominates in zone 3 around the terminal hepatic veins.

The progression to cirrhosis may be influenced by the amount of fat and degree of steatohepatitis and by a variety of other sensitizing factors. In alcoholic FLD the transition to cirrhosis related to continued alcohol consumption is well documented but the process involved in non-alcoholic FLD is less clear.

Diagnosis

Flow chart for diagnosis, modified from

 

 

 

Elevated liver enzyme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serology to exclude viral hepatitis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imaging study showing

fatty infiltrate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assess alcohol intake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Less than 2 drinks per day

 

More than 2 drinks per day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease likely

 

Alcoholic liver disease likely

 

 

Criteria for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease:

consumption of ethanol less than 20g/day for woman and 30g/day for man

Most individuals are asymptomatic and are usually discovered incidentally because of abnormal liver function tests or hepatomegaly noted in unrelated medical condition. Elevated liver biochemistry is found in 50% of patients with simple steatosis. The serum ALT level usually is greater than the AST level in non-alcoholic variant and the opposite in alcoholic FLD ( AST:ALT more than 2:1).

Imaging studies are often obtained during evaluation process. Ultrasonography reveals a "bright" liver with increased echogenicity. Medical imaging can aid in diagnosis of fatty liver; fatty livers have lower density than spleen on computed tomography (CT) and fat appears bright in T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs). No medical imagery, however, is able to distinguish simple steatosis from advanced NASH. Histological diagnosis by liver biopsy is sought when assessment of severity is indicated.

Treatment and prevention

The treatment of fatty liver depends on what is causing it, and generally, treating the underlying cause will reverse the process of steatosis if implemented at early stage.

Complication

Up to 10% of cirrhotic alcoholic FLD will develop hepatocellular carcinoma. Overall incidence of liver cancer in non-alcoholic FLD has not yet been quantified, but the association is well established.

Epidemiology

The prevalence of FLD in the general population ranges from 10% to 24% in various countries. However, the condition is observed in up to 75% of obese people, 35% of whom will progress to non-alcoholic FLD, despite no evidence of excessive alcohol consumption. FLD is the most common cause of abnormal liver function test in the US. Hispanic-Americans and European-Americans have higher frequencies of unexplained serum aminotransferase elevations than those reported in African-Americans (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20080925/fatty-liver-disease-genes-affect-risk), but prevalence of FLD among different racial groups is not known.

See also

Steatosis

Steatohepatitis

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Metabolic syndrome

Alcoholic liver disease

Cirrhosis

Focal fatty liver

References

^ a b c Reddy JK, Rao MS (2006). "Lipid metabolism and liver inflammation. II. Fatty liver disease and fatty acid oxidation". Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 290 (5): G8528. doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00521.2005. PMID 16603729. 

^ a b c Angulo P (2002). "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease". N. Engl. J. Med. 346 (16): 122131. doi:10.1056/NEJMra011775. PMID 11961152. 

^ a b Bayard M, Holt J, Boroughs E (2006). "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease". American family physician 73 (11): 19618. PMID 16770927. 

^ Valenti L, Dongiovanni P, Piperno A, Fracanzani AL, Maggioni M, Rametta R, Loria P, Casiraghi MA, Suigo E, Ceriani R, Remondini E, Trombini P, Fargion S. Alpha 1-antitrypsin mutations in NAFLD: high prevalence and association with altered iron metabolism but not with liver damage. Hepatology. 2006 Oct;44(4):857-64. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17006922

^ Goldman, Lee (2003). Cecil Textbook of Medicine -- 2-Volume Set, Text with Continually Updated Online Reference. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. ISBN 0721645631. 

^ Adams LA, Lymp JF, St Sauver J, Sanderson SO, Lindor KD, Feldstein A, Angulo P (2005). "The natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a population-based cohort study". Gastroenterology 129 (1): 11321. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2005.04.014. PMID 16012941. 

^ Crabb DW, Galli A, Fischer M, You M (2004). "Molecular mechanisms of alcoholic fatty liver: role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha". Alcohol 34 (1): 358. doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2004.07.005. PMID 15670663. 

^ Medina J, Fernndez-Salazar LI, Garca-Buey L, Moreno-Otero R (2004). "Approach to the pathogenesis and treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis". Diabetes Care 27 (8): 205766. doi:10.2337/diacare.27.8.2057. PMID 15277442. 

^ Day CP, James OF (1998). "Steatohepatitis: a tale of two "hits"?". Gastroenterology 114 (4): 8425. doi:10.1016/S0016-5085(98)70599-2. PMID 9547102. 

^ Gramlich T, Kleiner DE, McCullough AJ, Matteoni CA, Boparai N, Younossi ZM (2004). "Pathologic features associated with fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease". Hum. Pathol. 35 (2): 1969. doi:10.1016/j.humpath.2003.09.018. PMID 14991537. 

^ Zafrani ES (2004). "Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an emerging pathological spectrum". Virchows Arch. 444 (1): 312. doi:10.1007/s00428-003-0943-7. PMID 14685853. 

^ Adams LA, Angulo P, Lindor KD (2005). "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease". CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne 172 (7): 899905. doi:10.1503/cmaj.045232. PMID 15795412. 

^ Sleisenger, Marvin (2006). Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. ISBN 1416002456. 

^ Qian Y, Fan JG (2005). "Obesity, fatty liver and liver cancer". HBPD INT 4 (2): 1737. PMID 15908310. 

^ Hamaguchi M, Kojima T, Takeda N, Nakagawa T, Taniguchi H, Fujii K, Omatsu T, Nakajima T, Sarui H, Shimazaki M, Kato T, Okuda J, Ida K (2005). "The metabolic syndrome as a predictor of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease". Ann. Intern. Med. 143 (10): 7228. PMID 16287793. 

External links

Fatty liver - underlying medical causes, symptoms, diagnosis and other details

American Association for the Study of Liver Disease

American Liver Foundation

00474 at CHORUS

Photo at Atlas of Pathology

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Categories: Hepatology | Medical conditions related to obesity | HistopathologyHidden categories: Articles to be merged from January 2008 | All articles to be merged