Biography
Biography: Mathew Vadukoot
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent form of chronic liver
disease in the world. NAFLD exhibits a histological spectrum, ranging from steatosis to the more aggressive necro-inflammatory form, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis to cirrhosis leading to Hepatocellular carcinoma. Ongoing clinical trials are focused on an array of disease mechanisms and reviewed here are how these treatments fit into the current paradigm of substrate overload lipotoxic liver injury. Emerging data suggests fibrosis, rather than NASH per se, to be the most important histological predictor of liver and non-liver related death. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of individuals develop cirrhosis, NAFLD has led to predictions that it will become a leading cause of end stage liver disease, Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and indication for liver transplantation. HCC may arise in non-cirrhotic liver in the setting of NAFLD. The Metabolic syndrome and its components also play a key role in the histological progression of NAFLD, however other genetic and environmental factors may also influence the natural history.
The importance of NAFLD in terms of overall survival extends beyond the liver where evtraintestinal manifestations like cardiovascular disease and malignancy represents additional important causes of death