Diagnosis and management of secondary causes of steatohepatitis
Roman Liebe, Irene Esposito, Hans H Bock, Stephan Vom Dahl, Jan Stindt, Ulrich Baumann, Tom Luedde, Verena Keitel, Roman Liebe, Irene Esposito, Hans H Bock, Stephan Vom Dahl, Jan Stindt, Ulrich Baumann, Tom Luedde, Verena Keitel
Abstract
The term non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was originally coined to describe hepatic fat deposition as part of the metabolic syndrome. However, a variety of rare hereditary liver and metabolic diseases, intestinal diseases, endocrine disorders and drugs may underlie, mimic, or aggravate NAFLD. In contrast to primary NAFLD, therapeutic interventions are available for many secondary causes of NAFLD. Accordingly, secondary causes of fatty liver disease should be considered during the diagnostic workup of patients with fatty liver disease, and treatment of the underlying disease should be started to halt disease progression. Common genetic variants in several genes involved in lipid handling and metabolism modulate the risk of progression from steatosis to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma development in NAFLD, alcohol-related liver disease and viral hepatitis. Hence, we speculate that genotyping of common risk variants for liver disease progression may be equally useful to gauge the likelihood of developing advanced liver disease in patients with secondary fatty liver disease.
Keywords: NAFLD progression; PNPLA3; endocrine disruptors; inborn errors associated with NAFLD; intestinal failure-associated liver disease; nutrition-associated; secondary NAFLD; toxicant-associated.
Conflict of interest statement
Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest. Please refer to the accompanying ICMJE disclosure forms for further details.
Copyright © 2021 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Source: PubMed