Diagnostic capabilities in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

P.V. Seliverstov, S.N. Dzhadkhav, D.B. Tsurtsumia, S.I. Sitkin, V.G. Radchenko

North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov, Saint Petersburg

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence over the past 20 years has ubiquitously doubled to more than 40%. Apart from the traditional risk factors for cardiovascular complications (CVC) development in patients with NAFLD, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, etc., new ones has been distinguished: an increase in the pericardial fat thickness; endothelial and mitochondrial dysfunctions; intima-media complex thickening; an increase in C-reactive protein level; gender; age; hypertension; hyperlipidemia and smoking. These factors, according to modern concepts, are associated with the CVD development risk, which defines NAFLD as the CVC development predictor independently of other risk factors. In this regard, the range of diseases that forms NAFLD, significantly expands and includes steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, hypertension , coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Such diverse disease clinical manifestations are the polymorbidity determining factors in patients with NAFLD, which contributes to the late disease diagnosis. Nowadays, there is no standardized method for the NAFLD diagnosis, despite the abundance of various diagnostic methods allowing manifesting liver disease. Timely NAFLD diagnosis will allow choosing the optimal treatment and prophylaxis options that prevent further progression of both liver disease and associated conditions.

Keywords: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NASH, diagnosis, FibroMax test.

For citation: Seliverstov P.V., Dzhadkhav S.N., Tsurtsumia D.B. et al. Diagnostic capabilities in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. RMJ. 2019;5:36–40.