NAFLD as a risk factor for HCC: new rules of engagement?

Excerpt

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasingly diagnosed worldwide and is the most common cause of abnormal liver function tests and chronic liver disease in clinical practice. Although most patients with simple steatosis will have stable disease, 10–15 % with histologically proven non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) will progress to cirrhosis and its complications such as liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma [1‐3]. A long-term follow-up study of NAFLD patients showed that patients with NASH have lower survival rates compared to patients with simple steatosis, and most of the patients in the follow-up period developed type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance [2]. Cirrhosis as a result of NAFLD is predicted to surpass chronic hepatitis C (CHC) as the leading indication for liver transplantation in the USA within the next 5 years, as the incidence of CHC is decreasing whereas that of NAFLD is increasing [4]. …