| Abstract : |
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), of which at least 5% of liver weight is attributable to fat, consists of a spectrum of metabolic disorders that includes simple steatosis, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocarcinoma (HCC). NAFLD is the most common metabolic liver disease, with an increasing in prevalence in adults and children worldwide and currently affecting between 10-35% of Americans. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progression of steatosis characterized by liver damage and inflammation. Liver biopsy, although it is highly invasive and subject to several sampling errors, is currently the gold standard for diagnosing NASH as well as distinguish NASH from simple fatty liver. While NAFLD can be diagnosed noninvasively and accurately through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, the same cannot be done for NASH. Because NASH can progress to fibrosis, or worse, cirrhosis and HCC, early detection of NASH is crucial and not yet feasible as there are current limitations of accurate and sensitive techniques available for diagnosis. The necessary diagnostic criteria for a NASH include macrovesicular steatosis, cellular inflammation, and ballooning degeneration. Using the literature that explores hepatic imaging of NASH, we propose noninvasive biomarkers in cohesion with and imaging techniques that can detect hepatic inflammation and ballooning degeneration. |