Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFD) is a diffuse liver lesion that develops due to the pathological accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes, and is one of the most common diseases in hepatology.

The NAFB includes:

• Steatosis (fatty liver dystrophy) – the accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes
• Steatohepatitis-characterized by the development of liver inflammation
• Fibrosis
• Cirrhosis

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can be described if the characteristic changes are detected in a patient who does not drink alcohol in hepatotoxic doses (less than 40 g of ethanol per day for men and 20 g for women).
A risk factor for developing NAFLD is overweight and the presence of diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance (90% of patients with diabetes mellitus have liver steatosis).

There may be no clinical manifestations of the disease until the development of cirrhosis of the liver, so it is so important to undergo regular examinations for the timely diagnosis of NAFLD.
In addition to standard studies (biochemical blood analysis, ultrasound), liver fibroelastometry is currently used – an absolutely safe method for assessing liver fibrosis, which is convenient to use for dynamic monitoring of the state of the organ, especially in people at risk for liver NAFLD (overweight, diabetes, constant intake of a large number of medications for concomitant diseases).