Fatty Liver Disease

Liver is the largest organ in the human body. It has over 500 vital functions which can be summarized briefly as detoxification, production of various proteins & enzymes and storage functions for sugar & fat.

A growing concern for liver health due to the fast food and sedentary lifestyle era is a condition called hepatic steatosis (fatty liver). In this condition, large vacuoles of triglyceride fat molecules are accumulated within the liver cells (hepatocytes).

Other causes of fatty liver include:
Alcohol
Diabetes mellitus
Obesity
Steroids therapy
Chronic viral hepatitis
Chemotherapy

In some people, fatty liver can progress to inflammation of the liver cells (steatohepatitis) and even resulting in scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) and cancer formation (hepatocellular carcinoma). The long term harmful effects of fatty liver has just be discovered in the last decade through various clinical studies.

Fatty liver can be detected using ultrasound scanning of the abdomen. Normal liver has sharp edges with relative dark appearance (low echogenicity) as shown here in the images with blue arrow. However, patients with fatty liver will demonstrate bright liver (high echogenicity) as shown here in images with red arrows. Occasionally, the liver can be swollen as well (hepatomegaly) giving rise to epigastric discomfort.

Fortunately fatty liver is a reversible condition. The importance lies in early detection of disease and close follow-up with biochemical profile (liver function tests).