Non-invasive biomarkers in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease – are we there yet?

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2019Source: Journal of Clinical and Experimental HepatologyAuthor(s): Shivaram Prasad Singh, Rakesh Kumar BarikAbstractNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. NAFLD encompasses a spectrum of disease ranging from simple steatosis (NAFL) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, despite the growing recognition of this important disease burden, there are significant challenges to accurately and non-invasively diagnose the various forms of NAFLD, especially to differentiate benign steatosis from the progressive NASH. This is of utmost importance because although liver biopsy is considered the current imperfect “gold” standard for diagnosing NASH and staging fibrosis, it is an invasive procedure with significant limitations. Although, a number of non-invasive markers have been or are currently undergoing investigation, till date, no highly sensitive and specific tests are available to differentiate NASH from simple steatosis. At the moment, further investigations are needed before prediction models or blood-based biomarkers become available and acceptable for routine clinical care. There is a great need for developing inexpensive, easily accessible, highly sensitive and specific biomarkers that permit not only the identification of patients at high risk of adverse outcomes, but also the monitoring of disease progression and respo...
Source: Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology - Category: Gastroenterology Source Type: research