Summary
We assessed the clinicopathological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in patients stratified by the stage of fibrosis. One-hundred and ninety-three patients were diagnosed as having NAFLD at Tokyo Women’s Medical University or an affiliated hospital, from 1990 to September 2003, and their clinical data were collected prospectively. The diagnosis of NAFLD was based on the following criteria: (1) the presence of steatosis (affecting >30% of hepatocytes) or steatohepatitis, with steatohepatitis being defined by detection of steatosis (affecting >10% of hepatocytes), inflammatory infiltrates, and ballooning degeneration with or without Mallory bodies, pericellular fibrosis, and perivenular fibrosis; (2) intake of less than 20g of ethanol per week; and (3) appropriate exclusion of other liver diseases. We assessed the clinicopathological features of NAFLD in patients stratified by the stage of fibrosis. The median age of the patients was 53 years, with a range of 10 to 83 years. There were 96 males and 97 females. Eighty-five percent of the patients had at least one of the features of the metabolic syndrome. Histologically, 29 patients had established cirrhosis. In regard to severe fibrosis, females and older patients were more common. There were correlations between serum hyaluronic acid level, type IV collagen level, or platelet count and the stage of fibrosis. Eight patients developed hepatocellular carcinoma. Except for 1 F3 patient, they all had cirrhosis. Liver biopsy is invasive, expensive, and not suitable for all NALFD patients. Because we found correlations between serum fibrosis markers, or platelet count and the stage of fibrosis, these markers may be useful to identify NASH with severe fibrosis among NAFLD patients.
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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Tokyo
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Hashimoto, E., Kaneda, H., Yoshioka, Y., Taniai, M., Tokushige, K., Shiratori, K. (2005). Clinical Features of Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. In: Okita, K. (eds) NASH and Nutritional Therapy. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/4-431-27172-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/4-431-27172-4_6
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