Assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by non-invasive methods: present and future perspectives

The difficulties that exist to assess the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence and diagnosis are due to the absence of signs and symptoms in the early stages, as well as the low sensitivity of liver enzymes to identify the disease and the need to request a liver biopsy as reference standard for diagnosis despite its limitations. Non-invasive methods depend on different approaches, such as imaging techniques, including ultrasound, transient elastography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which can detect simple hepatic steatosis but cannot distinguish non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Furthermore, there are biomarkers that differentiated the spectrum of the disease; these include acute phase proteins, cytokines, apoptosis, and oxidative stress markers. As well as a variety of miRNAs, which are expressed in NAFLD and could be used as blood biomarkers of progressive liver damage.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Vidal-González,David, Uribe,Misael, Montalvo-Javé,Eduardo E., Nuño-Lámbarri,Natalia
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Sociedad Médica del Hospital General de México A.C. 2020
Online Access:	http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2524-177X2020000300135
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